Termites ruin everything
by lanie-love09
Summary: This story takes place after Rick and group breakout of Terminus (cause they will) and they are on their way to D.C. with a few "Terminus traders" in tow. However, they decided to settle in a friendly cul de sac for a little while. The people living in the cul de sac are survivors just like Rick and his group.
1. Chapter 1: I'm not blind

Michonne begins to walking home from the neighborhood announcements.

Carl runs up behind her and asks, "Did you already know that my Dad was going on a run?"

"Yea, he told right before they left", she tells him, "It's probably really important like medication or tools or weapons or something". She grins then ruffles his hair.

"Well, how far does the group have to go", he asks.

"He said something like twenty miles out, but they have a car, they're heavily armed, Daryl and Tyreese are with him so he'll be alright Carl", she tells him reassuringly.

Michonne stops to look at sun set and the beautiful dusk colors in the sky; looks at Carl and reminds him, "It's getting late, it'll be dark soon. You really need to be locked in side with Jane and Judith, I'm gonna cut through those vacant houses to get home."

Carl starts walking away; he sees Jane walking with a sleepy Judith on her shoulder smiling and nodding for him to catch up and walk home with them.

Before there's too much space between him and Michonne, he turns his head to the side and says, "Why is my Dad with her? He doesn't really like even being around her. That's probably why he volunteered to go."

Michonne laughs a little, "Carl, just because you can't see it doesn't mean there's nothing there. Besides he needs someone to take care of Judith that he can trust."

"Isn't that something you can do? You know, I can see plenty; I can see that he doesn't _really_ want her…he wants…" Carl looks at Jane then back at Michonne who's waiting for him to finish, "… someone else. I just wish I knew what the hell he's waiting for."

Carl gets really annoyed and turns away from Michonne; while walking away he sayw, "I maybe a kid but I am not blind Michonne, and _I_ know you're not blind either."

She quickly grabs his arm, upset by his tone she whispers, "Hey, what is that supposed to mean?"

He snatches his arm out of Michonne's hand, "You know what I am saying, _we_ should all be under the same roof. I don't know why you and Dad can't see that yet", he bitterly walks away.

Before Carl knows it, he riddled with guilt after speaking to the one woman in his group that he loves like a mother. Lately he had been feeling frustrated by all the tip toeing that his father and Michonne were doing around him and the rest of the group.

Almost with in arms-length of Jane and Judith; he tells Jane, "Wait a minute, I forgot to tell Michonne something."

"Can't it wait until tomorrow, it's starting to get really dark out here", Jane obnoxiously pleads.

"No it can't", he yells and continues running back over towards Michonne who's nearly disappeared in to the vast darkness between the two vacant houses.

Just as he's about to walk between the two houses he hears muffled yelling and scuffling, "Ouch! You Bitch!"

Carl pulls out his flashlight out while turning the corner only to see three men trying to pin Michonne down on the ground. One of the men stands up and kicks her in her ribs knocking the wind out of her, "That's for biting me", the man says.

The second man kneels on the ground towards the top of Michonne's head; pulls out a knife cuts her on the cheek bone while the other man straddles across Michonne's chest; both of his knees holding arms down to the ground.

"Where's that fucking sword", one of the masked men standing up whispers.

Someone hands him Michonne's sword then he starts slashing her pants with it. One of the slashes jabs the upper part of her inner thigh causing her to scream in pain but no one can hear her by her gagged mouth.

"Get off her! Get off her!" Carl yells and starts running toward Michonne. One of the men drops the katana then all three run in the opposite direction.

Carl runs over to Michonne on the ground and tries hard to hold back his tears but, she can hear trembling in his voice as he asks, "Are you o.k.?"

Carl sniffles some while trying to help Michonne stand up.

"I think so just help me up." She tells him.

Once she's standing she painfully bends down to pull her pants up. She feels evening air hitting the hot blood rolling down her leg from where they stabbed her inner thigh.

Michonne looks up and sees Jane holding Judith in her arms but Jane can't see Michonne well enough to notice that she was attacked.

"Carl, Michonne' are you guys alright", Jane yells.

"We're alright, Carl will be right there", Michonne yells back.

"Hand me my sword" she tells him in low voice.

"I'm not going with her I am going with you; I need to help you home." Carl tells her strongly.

"Carl if you don't go with Jane she will know something is up and then she'll tell Rick then all hell will break lose in the neighborhood. And you and I know how he can get when he's pissed off. I will be alright, just look for our signal in the window when you get in the house, then come by first thing in the morning so that I can talk to you, o.k.?" Michonne was practically begging Carl to walk Jane and Judith back home.

She wasn't too concerned about _getting_ home she was more worried that her attackers might be waiting at her house and the last thing she wanted was Carl to bear witness to her being killed or raped.

A huge lump begins to form in Carl's throat as he walks backwards toward Jane and Judith in order to watch Michonne's shadow limps the rest of the way between the two houses…alone.

His eyes burning with anger and tears because he can't be there for Michonne. With each step she took toward the other end of the opening the more enraged Carl became.

Carl blamed his father for this one; he felt that once again his father can't seem to protector or save anybody _he_ cares about. He feels that he could take care of Judith and Michonne leaving Jane out of the picture and possible his father too.

His resentment for Jane was growing at a fast pace as Michonne limped out of Carl's line of sight.

He reluctantly turns back to face Jane and Judith, "Lets go" was the only thing that he could muster as he storms past the two of them with his hand on his gun.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Some things never change

Michonne unlocked the door to her domicile and closed the door. She did a painful limp walk through the living room. While she limped through the living room to the kitchen a trail of blood was pouring down her leg on the floor. Michonne was in complete shock by what just happened. She had let her guard down for the first time in order to fit in with what appeared to be an ordinary survivor neighborhood with ordinary survivors just trying to live in this new world of the undead. But she was starting to understand…some things never change. Human nature never changes. She couldn't remember interacting with anyone that would warrant them to do such a vicious act. As she limped in to the kitchen she opened a drawer and pulled out some scissors and some tape then headed toward the stairs. She stopped to push the couch against the front door. She knew even this task would be difficult; just about every movement the body makes involves using stomach muscles and hers were in really bad shape. So she took a deep breath and pushes the couch up against the door; in the process she let's out a forcebly restrain shriek from her injuries, Then blowing the air out of her lungs leaning on the arm of the couch from extreme pain and exhaustion.

Once Michonne got upstairs she attempted to clear the bedroom and the bathroom but she realized that she was dripping blood everywhere make more work for her-self in the long run. Once she gets in the bathroom and secures the door knob with some coaxial cable wire wrapped around the faucet sink. She removes her clothes, as gently as possible; she tries not to use any stomach muscles.

She looks down at the side of her stomach notices the bruise has already turned a dark purple with a deep in print of a foot. Looking in the mirror she observes the bruises on her chin and a semi-deep cut on her right cheek bone. While reaching for the vinegar on a little shelf along the back wall to clean the cut on her face; she forgets about her stomach.

The painful reminder hits her so quickly that she ends up pulling the wall-shelf crashing to the floor. Michonne looks at the broken shelf and begins to get furiously angry at her predicament. She was upset that she was taken by surprise, and she was sorry that she walked between those houses. But then, she started thinking that maybe she should leave, that was before she remembered Carl and Judith how much Carl might hate her if she left.

Michonne understanding that she can't focus on dressing her wounds while feeling rage began to calm down and started dressing the cut and bruises on her face. She grabs the pieces of the broken shelf from the floor and dumps it in old supply bag for Daryl to use for arrows or something.

When she gets in the shower the less than luke warm water runs down her body and stings the gash on her inner thigh as a puddle of blood forms around her feet before going down the drain. She gets out of the shower and ties her hair up; then begins to clean the gash in her leg with white vinegar. Once she places the gauze and tape on the her leg she puts on an extra-large shirt grabs her katana and walks to the bedroom.

Walking in to the bedroom she realizes that she forgot about the signal for Carl; letting him know that everything is alright. So she grabs the candle on the window sill and lights it with an old bic lighter and places it in the window. A minute or two late Carl flashes his flashlight from two blocks over letting Michonne know that his sees it. She blows the candle out then gently lays down on the bed thinking how humans are in the most absolute desperate time sense coming in to existence on this planet; but the need to over-power the weak will always exist. However, she also knew that Carl needed to be here with his sister. They need some kind of stability for a moment, she knew that she had to delay saying anything to Rick for fear that he loses it and they are all back out on the road again. Considering these facts Michonne decides that she should probably sleep down stairs on the couch by the front door. Therefore she grabbed some loose fitting pants then grabbed her katana and went down stairs with a blanket. She had no plans of being caught off guard again.


	3. Chapter 3 Pay close attention

"Michonne it's me, open up." Carl says impatiently. Michonne gets up off the couch then pushes the couch away from the door. He had unlocked her door with the spare key she gave him. He rushes in and sees the bandages on her face and how it hurts for her to stand. "Are you alright, did anyone come back last night", Carl blurted out. Michonne slowly closes the door and shakes her head no. He notices that her eyes are starting to water, then he runs over to her and hugs her hard causing Chonne' a lot of pain but she didn't want to break this moment for him.

The sun was in full view on the horizon but, you could tell the day was just beginning. Michonne dreaded having to tell Carl to keep the attack between the two of them for a while so they could stay in the neighborhood longer. Michonne walks Carl over to the couch and sits him down and says, "Carl…I want you to do something for me?" "What is it?" he asks. "I don't want you tell anybody about last night." "Especially Rick", she says.

"But why", he asks.

Michonne stops and looks at Carl, "Because You and I know how Rick can get, and we need this place Carl. We can't keep moving Judith around not knowing where we are gonna land. She too little to understand what's at stake." We have to stay, for right now anyway. I will be more careful", She says while getting up off the couch. "

How will you explain you cuts, your bruises…" Carl asks.

"Well if anyone asks, you say that I am having 'women's issues', people will leave me alone when they hear that…at least for a little while." "Look, I am not asking you to lie, I just want you to hold back details, o.k.?" Then when I am better I can confront this issue in the open. And if it makes you feel better you can stop by anytime with the key I gave you. Just keep everybody from coming to see me, o.k.", Michonne says as she sits down on the couch and holds Carl's hand. "Just give me some time to heal that's all, alright?" Carl reluctantly shakes his head yes and hugs her again.

Michonne motions to Carl to go so she can push the couch back against the door. "I will try and get up at dusk to move the couch so you can get in to check on me. But just remember not to tell anybody that I move the couch in the morning." Michonne whispers.

Carl looks at her and says, 'Of course but…", He looks down at his feet and says, "You don't look…well."

"Well let's see how good you look when you take a beating like I did", Michonne says jokingly. But Carl doesn't see the humor. She smiles and looks at Carl, "Look I just need time to heal nothing more. Then I can take care of this situation. Just hold out on saying what you know alright?"

He reluctantly shakes his head yes then says, "Well at least let me clean the blood up." Carl looks at the blood stains on the floor can.

She smiles and waves her arm like a showcase girl and says, "Be my guest."

* * *

Rick, Daryl and Tyreese return with a couple of others from the urgent excursion to find supplies. When they reach the entrance to the cul de sac the driver gives the signal to let the guard know that they have no additional people with them. Once given the o.k. the group drives through the gates and park in the make shift motor pool next to a moving van, a pick-up truck and zip car that doesn't work because there are no more units that supply electricity to power the vehicles, a golf cart and a few bicycles.

Rick gets out the truck with a few bags and looks at Daryl and Tyreese, "Look, I am beat. I'm gonna go check on Carl and Judith then get some rest." Daryl and Tyreese wave and start going up the block, Rick starts heading for the little house at the end of the block with some bags filled with pet and powdered milk.

Rick opens the front door to his domicile and he announces that he's back. Jane comes running in to the living room and gives him a hug. She starts to kiss him all over his face while saying, "Oh, I am so glad you are home safe! We were so worried."

Rick, obviously annoyed by her jester pushes her away and asks, "Where's Carl and Judith?"

She drops her hands and tells him, "Well I think Carl went to class or something and Judith is in the kitchen. She grabs his hand and pulls him to the kitchen to see that Judith is fine. "Did you get anything good?" Jane says while going back to washing the dishes.

Rick grins at Judith, "Ah, yea I got some more powdered and canned pet milk."

Jane responded happily, "Good." Jane walks over to Rick then wraps her arms around his neck and whispers, "I will be putting Judith down for a nap in a little while so…so maybe we could…",

" Well I am really tired so I am gonna try and get some rest." Rick walks over to Judith and kisses the top of her head then heads upstairs to the bed room.

* * *

Rick wakes up a few hours later; gets dressed and hears Judith in the other room talking, "I tat tone, I tat tone."

He smiles, then walks in to the room and looks at Judith, "What are you talking about?" Rick picks Judith up and hugs her tight. Remembering what Michonne said in Elysium about enjoying every moment you encounter cause that is all we have let. He kisses Judith on the forehead then looks out the window passed some boarded up houses to see Michonne's domicile.

"You wanna go see Chonne?" Rick asks while looking at Judith. "Alright let me get dressed and we'll see what she's up to. He puts Judith back in her playpen then walks out of the room to finish getting dressed.

Jane is standing at the top of the stairs when she hears Rick talking to Judith about going to see Michonne. So Jane goes in to the bedroom and starts to pull out some clothes for Rick.

Rick walks in to the bedroom, "You don't have to do that I can get my own clothes", and he walks over to her and grabs her hand, "Thank you… for everything." Jane leans up to kiss him but, he turns his head to the side so that her kiss lands on his cheek.

"No, thank you for everything, if it wasn't for you and your people…me and my brothers would've been stuck at Terminus forever." Jane tells him.

She turns around and starts to open the dresser draws looking for a clean shirt for Rick to put on. "I mean Gareth was sick, but not as sick as his mother Mary." Jane begins to stare at the wall remembering the last time she held her own baby in her arms and how one day Gareth came and took their baby away never to be seen again. She turns around and hands Rick the clean shirt.

"Well, I am grateful that you looked out for Judith, Tyreese and Carol. And how you lead them to us in that train car for that I am truly grateful." Rick tells her while putting his shirt on.

She walks up on him, "You can always show me just how much…anytime you want to Rick." Jane tells him seductively.

Rick looks Jane in the face then smiles sadly at her because he knows that he needs her to look out for Judith but he wasn't grateful enough to give her what she wanted because what she wanted was him. "Look, I am going to take walk with Judith and I will bring her back a little later." Rick kisses her forehead then starts to put on his shoes.

"Knock; knock…hey guys it's me I'm back from the run." Rick says while smiling and holding Judith's hand.

"Carl." Michonne whispers. He waves his hand down like he's got the situation under control. Carl opens the front door real quick, steps out and shuts it behind him.

Rick looks at him in strangely and says, "What's up with that?" "What's going on? Is Chonne' alright?" Rick questions him.

Carl suddenly draws a blank, forgetting what the excuse was that Michonne told him to say. Michonne quickly begins to move the couch back against the door. Rick furrows his brow at the noise behind the door then he moves to the left of Carl reaching for the door knob.

"She said, she wasn't feeling well about women issues", Carl blurts out.

Michonne nearly bursts in to tears of laugh over his response.

Rick shifts his head back with a questionable grin on his face, "What? Oh, you mean she isn't feeling well because of women's issues." He corrects him.

"Yea, that's what I meant." Carl agrees with a look of relief.

"Yea well, I have been meaning to have that conversation with you soon any way. Why don't we take walk?" Rick says. And Rick, Carl and Judith take a nice troll and discuss the birds and the bees.

* * *

Rick, Carl and Judith are seating on an old iron park bench in the late morning. Rick just spent the last hour and a half explaining to Carl the facts regarding sex.

Carl was speechless, but not for the same reason as Rick thinks.

Rick thinks that he's shocked by how intimate and physical the act actually is. But Carl is really shocked because he better understands what Michonne's attackers were trying to do. Carl actually felt sick at the thought of this happening to Michonne.

"You alright Carl, I mean all of it can't be that much of shock is it?" Rick says while looking at Carl for a facial expression.

Carl snaps out of his speechlessness and says, "No, not all of it. Actually it makes sense now with all the bits and pieces that I have heard before. But Dad, where does love fit in to all this?" Carl asks.

Rick wasn't prepared for that question, "Well in most cases you would want to… aim for someone that you feel especially connected to. But for men it doesn't always turn out that way. You'll see what I mean one day." Rick says while smiling and patting Carl on the back.

* * *

For the past few days Carl has been eating breakfast and leaving right out an hour before he is supposed to be at the top of the cul de sac for a few hours of schooling. There were a few kids in the neighborhood he had gotten to know but so far no of them had been through what Carl had in the past year or so.

Rick hasn't been seeing him in the morning. He's also annoyed that Jane is constantly on him about sex. The last thing Rick wanted was another baby to have to look out for. He was never really attracted to Jane she was entirely too young for his taste. She couldn't have been more than 25 or 26. She was too anxious to live out that old patterned ways that everyone in the world used to live. But for now that old way of living is what Rick really wanted for Judith. He really wanted Judith to have some stability in her life for a little while even if the relationship between him and Jane was just a show for Judith and Carl.

Rick comes down stairs in to the kitchen fully dressed and ready to leave out. Judith is sitting in a wooden high chair eating her oatmeal with a plastic toddler spoon. "Hey Judith", Risk says while kissing her on top of her head.

"Good morning sleepy head, can I make you some breakfast?" Jane says. Rick was instantly annoyed by Jane's comment. Then she walks over to him and gives him a hug and kisses him on the lips.

Rick visibly uncomfortable with kissing her pulls her out of the kiss. "Hey, no I will get something later on our way to the perimeter check. Hey how early has Carl been leaving out in the morning?"

Jane replies, "I would say the minute Judith wakes up. He is fully dressed when I come in to get her. The minute I pick Judith up, his practically closing the front door." "Is there something wrong that I should know about?" Jane looks out of the corner of her eye while wiping Judith's face.

"No I am sure there's nothing to worry about. Do you think you could stop by Michonne's and see if she is alright? I haven't seen her around in a few days." Rick asks her.

"Sure, me and Judith will go right after breakfast. " Then Jane glances at Rick's face then says, "But I thought I saw her the other day with Sasha going toward the field to kill walkers."

"You did?" "Oh, well as long as someone has seen her recently." Rick says with relief. "Look I will catch up with you guys later. Bye Judith." Rick kisses Judith sticky hands full of oatmeal. He looks at Judith with a smile, "Mmm, that's good stuff Judy", and then he leaves.

* * *

"Look, we are gonna have to go out there and start killing the walkers that are just walking in and around the cul de sac. The less there are roaming, the less chances that they will sneak up on us as a herd. We will need to start making teams that can go out there on a regular basis and kill any walkers within a quarter mile around the neighborhood." Sasha says to the group.

Daryl shakes his head and says, "Alright, who do we have that can kill them at close range. That's you, me, Rick, Tyreese, Michonne…" Daryl stops in the middle of counting and looks around the group. He sees Rick, Sasha, Bob, Abe, Glen, Maggie Jane's brothers James and Jimmy and a couple of others, "Where the hell is Michonne?"

"Carl said she wasn't feeling well, 'woman's issues' he called it." Rick laughs, "But Sasha you saw her a few days ago right, didn't you walk with her to the breach to kill some walkers a few days ago?"

Sasha looks at Rick strangely and says, "No I haven't, in fact I went to get her a few days ago and she didn't even let me in the house. She told me through the door that she was having some really bad cramps and that she would be out for a few days…but that was maybe 3 or 4 days ago."

"Wait a minute, you mean no one has laid eyes upon Michonne other than Carl for the past 3 or 4 days?" Rick asks the group. Everyone shakes their head no. Rick looks down the block toward Michonne's house and sees Carl leaving it.

"Carl, Carl!" Rick begins to yell while walking toward Carl down the block. Then Daryl grabs Rick arm because he can feel the intensity in his voice.

"Rick, let me talk to you for a minute." Daryl says while pulling him a few feet away from the others. "Look before you go getting on Carl just remember if she wanted someone other than Carl to see her then she would've easily sent for someone. Carl maybe carrying something for her and not because of her", Daryl reasons."You probably have a better chance at finding out about what's going with her just by tripping him up a little. That way he isn't betraying her in the process."

Rick looks at Daryl and says, "Look you come by my house before sun up. I want you take Carl out on a run to check snares or something. Michonne gave him a spare key. I am going to go over there tomorrow morning around the time he has been leaving out. You just keep him out until the sun is up. You know buy me some time." Daryl agrees.

Rick walks over to Sasha, "Look, Sasha why don't' make some teams and shifts so we can start taking care of this early in the morning. The walkers seem a bit disoriented when the sun starts coming up." He tells her.

* * *

Rick's standing on the tiny cement porch with Judith, waiting for Carl to come home from working in the gardens. The sun is starting to set and Rick can feel the intensity building within him about what's going on with Michonne. He wants to interrogate Carl but, he knows that may cause him to shut down completely. So he decides to approach it casually.

Carl walks up the small sidewalk leading to the house, "Hey Dad." Carl says while walking past Rick and Judith.

Rick stops Carl and says, "Hey what's up, where you going so fast? I wanted to ask you about Michonne and how she's feeling."

" Carl looks at him in shock that he would ask him that question, "She's…getting better. She told me that she should be up and about any day now."

"Well maybe I should go over there and check her out make sure she not sick or has an infection of some sort." Rick says.

"No she usually moves the couch back up against the door once I leave so she can lay back down without having to get up..." Carl pauses,"Look I am pretty beat I think I am gonna skip dinner and go to bed, night Dad." Carl says quickly while walking in to the house.

Rick can feel the heat and emotion racing to his face as he watches Carl go inside knowing that he isn't being truthful about what is going on with Michonne.

* * *

It's somewhere between night and morning when Rick enters Carl and Judith's room. He quietly walks in and begins to search Carl's pants for the key to Michonnes'. As he pulls the pants pockets inside out he sees a key drop on the floor.

Carl wakes a little from hearing the key hit the floor; Rick quickly walks over to the key and covers it with his foot. "Carl…Carl, look I need you to go out with Daryl and check the snares." Rick whispers.

Carl wakes a little and rubs his eyes and says, "Why?"

"Well someone…called out so to speak; and I know that you know how to reset the snares that will make the checking faster." Rick tells him.

Carl agrees and starts to get dressed; Once Carl's dressed Rick puts both his hand on his shoulders and starts leading him out of the room so that he doesn't think to check for the Michonnes' spare key.

Rick goes down the steps with Carl and sees Daryl waiting in the dark living room. Daryl slaps Carl on the back then says in a whisper, "You awake brother? We got some work to do". Daryl smiles looking at Rick to see if the plan is working so far. "We should be back by breakfast", Daryl says to Rick in a low voice. Then Daryl and Carl walk off down the street with James and Jimmy waiting at the end of the block.

Rick closes the door and sits on the futon in the living room worried about what he might see by going in to Michonnes' house disguised as Carl. He begins to think that she is a walker and Carl is keeping her trapped in the house like that crazy women he met at the prison while checking for snares. Then Rick starts to think about when he and Michonne spent the night in Elysium. Rick had to laugh to himself a little cause that was exactly what it felt like being there with her; it felt like Elysium.

Suddenly Rick jumped up and started pacing the tiny living room. "_Oh, no, please, please don't let it be that ! Just don't let it be that!"_ He thinks to himself.

Rick quickly runs upstairs and gets dressed.

* * *

"Where are you going so early", Jane says half asleep.

"Look I sent Carl out with Daryl to check the snares I gotta go check on something. Bring Judith in here with you after you come and move the couch back against the door.

Rick opens the top dresser drawer and pulls out his Python and checks to make sure it's loaded.

"Rick what is going on?" Jane says with a little more irritation.

"I will be back later, I am going to stop by and check on Michonne", He answers.

"Again, what does that women have over you that you are always so worried about her all the time?" Jane asks forgetting herself.

He stops a moment while grabbing his gun belt and says to her, "Do you have a problem with that?"

"Rick, I am just saying some people can't adjust to a social setting. Sometimes their past is too painful for them to get over that's all", Jane says while getting out of the bed. She walks up behind Rick and starts rubbing the front of his pants and stroking the back of his hair.

"Come back to bed and check on her later. She's not going anywhere." Rick suddenly turns around and looks at Jane confused as to why she would say something so callous.

"Look, we will revisit this conversation when I get back, until then come and move the couch back against the door" Rick says in a annoyed tone.

"O.K.", Jane says, then she kisses him on the lips but Rick pulls away in manner of distaste and walks down the stairs and out the front door.

Rick sits on the ground around the side of Michonnes' domicile waiting to hear her move the couch for Carl. He sits watches the sunlight slowly expand over the night horizon. He can't even recall the last time he really watched a sun rise. He closes his eyes and tries to soak in this moment, the moment of uncertainty.

In a the next few moments he was about to find out if Michonne was walker or if she was pregnant in the next few minutes; he knew his life was going to make a dramatic shift again and he was afraid that he may not be ready for it.

He opens his eyes trying to get ready to accept whatever was behind Michonnes' door. He decides that if he hears the couch being moved then she's probably pregnant. The thought of Michonne being pregnant gave Rick a feeling of fear; how would he provide for another baby when the second one can't even fend for its self.

But he prays; if she could beat that out break at the prison then, he knew she would have to have a healthy pregnancy; cause if the fetus dies She would die.

While Rick was having a rush of all these uncertainties he hears Michonne moving the couch away from the door. He stands up and glances at the last remnants of night being pushed away by the sun. He pulls the key out of his pocket and looks at it for a moment then he walks up to the door and unlocks it; walks in the door and looks around the small living room then slowly closes the door.

The deputy sheriff in him notices that someone tried to clean up the stains of blood on the floor, couch and stairs.

Michonne's in the kitchen when she hears the door shut, 'Hey Carl what are you doing here so early? Is everybody alright?" She asks.

She walks toward the kitchen entrance toward the living room; she's looking down at a canister of oatmeal trying to open it.

"Ouch, ouch, Carl I need you to open this oatmeal again my ribs are still too…" just as Michonne looks up from the canister standing in the kitchen entrance she sees Rick standing there looking at her in complete shock and disbelief at what he sees.


	4. Chapter 4 Don't go looking for trouble

Chapter 4: Don't go looking for trouble

Rick can see that her face has been healing for the past few days and the swelling has gone down, and he sees the bandage on her right cheek bone. When he looks down and sees Michonne in a partially ripped shirt exposing the bandages on ribs; he notices a dark blue and purple bruise protruding above and below the bandage around her ribs.

He puts one hand on his hip then rubs his eyes with the other hand infuriated and annoyed by what he is observing.

Rick starts to get a waning feeling of sadness his stomach and his chest begins to surge with rage. His first inclination is to throw the couch across the room he's so angry. Instead he decides to play cop and tries to remain as objective as he can about what he is seeing.

"Michonne who did this to you, why didn't you tell me about this?" He asks gently.

Michonne startled by his appearance, turns around and goes back in to the kitchen.

Rick immediately follows behind her then grabs her arm and turns her around, "Michonne who did this to you?"

She's without words, she can't bring herself to tell him who did this or why this happened because she didn't know.

Quickly, She puts the oatmeal down on the small counter top and starts to quickly limp past him; into the living room and upstairs saying, "I can't do this right now Rick, I…I'm not ready to do this right now."

He starts walking up the stairs after her and says, "What? What the hell do you mean you can't talk about this right now?! What the hell happened to your face and your ribs, Michonne?!"

She gets upstairs and sits on the bed. Rick walks in the bedroom and slams the door shut.

Michonne jumps a little when he slams the bedroom door, realizing just how weakened she has become since the attack. His yelling and slamming doors is causing her to feel even more exposed because she can't protect herself at the moment and she can't calm him down because she is too frightened.

Once Rick slams the bedroom door shut; he notices Michonne jump at the sound of the door slamming. He catches himself then slowly walks to the other side of the room to calm down before saying anything else. He sits on the floor against wall and says to Michonne quietly, "When did this happen?"

"The night you and the group went out. Look," Michonne says getting up, "I'm really tired and I need to lie down", She starts walking to the bedroom door and opens it signaling Rick to go.

He gets up off the floor and walks over to the bedroom door and shuts it again causing her to step a few feet away from him.

Rick looks at her with offended eyes, "Are you scared of me Chonne'?" He remembers dealing with domestic violence and rape victims while being a deputy sheriff; and how fragile they tend to be days after the fact, but he never imagined Michonne feeling this way, he always saw her as a warrior.

He walks up to her slowly and says again softly, "Are you afraid of me?" He walks a little bit closer to her with his hands slightly up in the air, "Are you?"

Michonne can see the change in his demeanor and says, "No. I'm afraid of what you might do."

"To you", Rick's voice start to get a bit louder.

"No, about what you may do out there. We need this place Rick, Carl and Judith need this place its stable, we can't keep running with a baby in the wild. She doesn't understand." Michonne explains.

"So you would rather not tell me at all? Does Carl…Shit! That's why Carl reacted the way he did when I had the talk with him." Rick says under his breath.

"Look I was gonna tell you once I was healed up. Once I am recovered I will take care of this myself." She says.

"So you would risk the other women out there being attacked?" He questions.

"No… they were waiting for me, they knew which way I went home from the neighborhood announcements. I started to walk in between the two boarded up houses and that's when they grabbed me. Carl came back over and saw them ripping…" Michonne stops going in to detail as it is bringing up to many memories that she hasn't decided to deal with yet.

"Carl was there? He saw what happened?" Rick asks while increasing the volume on his voice.

She discreetly walks to the opposite side of the room from Rick. In her mind she knows he would never do anything to hurt her but, she had to admit to herself that after Elysium she isn't sure what to think about Rick.

Rick lets out a big sigh then walks over to Michonne and says, 'Well, let me check your ribs and make sure the bandage is tight?"

She steps back away from Ricks' approach. "No, I am good it's pretty tight." She says.

Rick looks at her with grief, "Michonne, I would never…please you know me better than that", he pleads.

"I know I just feel real…I am just not myself right now. And I need some time to regain or…repair what I lost that night." She tells him.

Rick begins to back away slowly with his hand slightly in the air again. "O.k, o.k., would it be alright if I sent Bob and Sasha over to check out you injuries", Rick says while backing up toward the bedroom door. But Michonne doesn't respond.

"How about if I just send Sasha over and I won't tell her anything. I will just tell her that you need to speak with her in confidence, alright?" Michonne nods her head yes, then turns her back on Rick.

"Listen, I know you may not want this but, while you're like this I can't leave you alone by yourself for a while. I know this won't come out right but, I don't feel comfortable with you being here alone if you are unable to fight. So I will be back before it gets dark, I will stay down stairs on the couch and you can lock the bedroom door. But if I can't do that, then I have to find someone who will. So I'll be back later on and in the meantime I will ask Sasha to stop by alright?" Rick is saying this as he backs out of the bedroom. Right before he shuts the door. "Is that a yes?" Rick asks. She shakes her head yes and raises her hand to leave her alone.

* * *

Sasha comes out of Michonne's house and sees Bob walking toward her. As she starts to walk up the block she hears,

"Sasha, Sasha…", Rick yells while doing a light jog up to her. "How is she?" he asks while facing in the opposite direction of her.

Sasha looks up the block as Bob is coming down the block then she says, "She's pretty banged up. She wouldn't remove the bandages from her ribs but…The color of that bruise doesn't look good. As I was trying to dress the bandage on her eye I could feel her skin and she's really warm. I gave her some Motrin and antibiotics to stop the infection?"

"What infection", he asks.

"Rick?" Sasha say raising her voice a little, "Any infection. She wouldn't take the bandages off her ribs; she wouldn't let me examine her. Are you really surprised? She's been taking care of herself for a while. But…I think I know what happened", she sadly admits.

"Look, she's not gonna talk about it until she wants to Rick. We'll just have to wait to see if she ever does." Sasha says while shrugging her shoulders.

"Hey, so what's up with Chonne'? How she doing", Bob asks while walking toward Rick and Sasha.

"She's good, she said it happens every few months or years", Sasha reassures Bob.

"Did she have a fever, is vomiting" Bob questions some more.

"Chill, army medic, I was firemen and a E.M.T. I know how to examine." Sasha says with a laugh, "I gave her about 800 mg of Motrin, so she is about to go to sleep which is exactly what she needs. Come on", Sasha wraps one of her arms around Bob's shoulder, then mouths to Rick that she will come back tomorrow afternoon then starts walking up the block with Bob.

* * *

Rick, Jane, Carl and Judith are sitting at a tiny kitchenette eating plain baked potatoes and carrots. No one was speaking but Judith.

"I tat tone, I tat tone", Judith says while banging her carrots on her plate.

Rick is just staring in to his plate pushing his food around. Carl keeps eating little bites of food while glancing at his father angrily. Carl knows that he stole Michonne's spare key from him. When Carl went by Michonne's after coming back with Daryl that morning; she told him that Rick was there earlier and he has already seen her. But she still wants him to come by and see her every day.

Jane just sits with a smile on her face taking tiny bits off her plate then looks at Rick, "So how is Michonne Rick? Did you get a chance to see her...Rick?"

He snaps out of his stare then looks up at her, "What?"

"How's Michonne doing?" Janes asks once more.

"Oh, she's…under the weather, she'll be alright", he says.

"Good, I was thinking that we should all go for a walk tomorrow before the neighborhood announcements. We haven't spent any time as a family." Jane's ability to block out the gloominess in this tiny kitchen space was eerie and very unwanted.

"I'm full, I'm going to bed. Carl grunts while pushing out his seat.

"Carl wait, I want to talk to you for minute," Rick pushes his chair out and leaves the table. Jane looks at Judith with a smile as Judith says again, "I tat tone."

Rick stops Carl before he goes up the stairs and puts his hand on his shoulder, "Look, I'm not mad…"

"Well, I am", Carl whispers angrily. "First you weren't there to help her, and then you steal my key to her house. I was taking care of her. Just like I take care of Jane and Judith, Michonne is nearly two blocks away by herself. She needs to be here under the same roof as us."

"Carl", Rick chuckles a bit then whispers, "There is barely enough room for the four of us let alone a fifth person."

"Then maybe you need to get rid of the newcomer." Carl turns around and run upstairs.

Rick follows behind him a few seconds later and walks in to his room and shuts the bedroom door. "Carl, I am sorry I stole your key but I knew you wouldn't give it to me. And I'm glad you were there to help Michonne a few nights ago. You're right, I should've been there. But, I will be there for her from now on...or as much as she will let me", he explains.

He begins to walk over to Carl's bedroom window to look across street at Michonne's house; then turns back around to Carl, "Now, I will be staying there over night until she's well enough to fight again…"

Carl walks over to his bed and sits down then looks up at his father, "Then what? Go back to leaving her alone, by herself with walkers a few feet away and some crazy rapists up the block. Who is gonna have her back?" Carl asks. "If she can't stay with us once she's better… then I will go live with her. You stay her with Jane and Judith."

Rick stands puzzled at how the conversation has gone so far, "Look, it'll be a week or two that I'll be over there; in the meantime you keep Judith and Jane safe at night." Rick heads over the door, "We'll revisit this discussion at a later time."

Carl shakes his head disapprovingly at his father, "Kids and adults really see things differently. You know I'm right, you know she needs to be here with us… the three of us."

Ricks turns around and leaves Carl's room, just as he closes Carl's bedroom door Jane is coming toward the bathroom to give Judith a bath. He walks over to Judith in Jane's arm and kisses Judith's head but doesn't kiss Jane. "Listen, something happened a few nights ago with Michonne and she's been injured…"

"Is that where Carl has been going early in the morning?" Jane interrupts.

"Yea, so I am gonna be staying there until she is well enough to take care of herself again." Rick tells her.

"Of course, I know how much she means to you and Carl. Go we will be fine. I will make sure that James or Jimmy stops by to check on us before we lockup." Jane says lovingly.

This act of concern for Michonne felt odd considering what she said earlier that day. But he had no time to really read in to it because he needed to get to Michonne's house before it gets dark. Rick places his hand on her shoulder and says, "Thanks, I'll stop by once the sun is up."

Just as Rick hears Jane push the couch against the door he looks up the block as the evening settles on the neighborhood. No one's out on the street. At first glance it looks like any other neighborhood before the outbreak. Rick walks up and across the street to where Michonne was attacked. As he walks over to the entrance between the two houses he sees a light. Rick pulls out his gun and his flashlight and just as he is about to flash his light Daryl has his crossbow aimed and ready.

"Rick? Your a little slow on draw there chief?" Daryl says while lowering his weapon. "I was just checking out the scene of the crime."

"Find anything", Rick asks.

"Na' it's been a few days, besides tracking ain't easy after a couple of days and it's damn near impossible to do in the dark." Daryl tells him.

"Well, we can't get out here during the day it'll stir up too much attention. Look, I 'll be staying over there at night until she can defend herself again." Rick says. "

"Oh, well just let me know if you need a break or something." Daryl reminds him.

"You'll be the first to know, brother." Rick responds while walking away.

* * *

Rick knocks on Michonnes' door, "It's Rick", he says.

Michonne opens the door, looks at Rick then shakes her head bitterly and walks toward the stairs, 'I don't like this Rick. I don't need a babysitter." She snaps at him.

Rick walks in and closes the door, well prepared for this sort of response to him being there. "Well as soon as you let someone take a look under all those bandages to see that your healing properly we are gonna be roommates."

He pushes the couch against the front door then checks the knot on the backdoor in the kitchen.

He decides to go upstairs before going to sleep. He uses his flashlight to navigate the stairs leading to Michonne bedroom. As he gets to the top of the steps he sees that that her bedroom door is open. "Knock, knock?" Rick says jokingly. As he slowly pushes the door open wider he sees her pulling out a t-shirt and some pajama pants. "You alright, for the night?" he asks.

She remembers the hurt look he gave her when he asked if she was afraid of him earlier that day. Michonne didn't want Rick to think that she was. So reluctantly she says, "I could use some help putting this stuff on."

Rick didn't give away how pleased he was to see that he was able to approach her again. Without hesitation he rushs in and puts his flashlight face up on the dresser, "Sure."

Michonne leans against the wall for balance as he gently begins to pull down her beat up sweat pants so she can step out of them. Rick can smell the hint of rosewater and olive oil permeating from her soft legs. He nearly got lost in the action of pulling her pants down when he sees a long piece of blood stained gauze taped on the upper part of her inner thigh. He slightly rubs his hand against the gauze then looks up at Michonne. He sees her head is turned away as though she's ashamed but, he clearly see the little streams of tears rolling down her face.

He looks back at the gauze and lightly lifts up the tape; he examines the pretty deep cut that really needs stitches. But for right now Rick gets up; goes in the bathroom and grabs the vinegar and a wash cloth. He comes back in to the room and kneels down again. He takes the wash cloth and holds it as the bottom on the gash against her leg, and then he begins to pours some vinegar on the wound.

She, groans with her mouth shut tight. He gets more gauze and tape from the dresser then redresses the wound.

He grabs the pajama pants off the bed and motions to her to step out of sweat pants and in to the pajama pants; slowly pulling the pants up to her waist; he ties the draw string in a bow while watching her face as she continues to avoid eye contact with him.

Just as he starts to lift her shirt Michonne raises her arms and winces from the pain in her ribs; he pulls the shirt over her head then leans over to look her in the eyes and say softly, "Michonne, look at me". They hadn't been this close since Elysium. She looks at Rick and sees that his eyes are full of tears too. "I am so sorry this happened to you."

Instantly, Michonne covers her face with her hands and starts to cry uncontrollably.

He wraps his arms around her squeezing her as hard as he could then slowly strokes are back.

She extends both her arms and wraps them around Rick's waist burying her face in his chest while continuing to cry. She had no idea that she was this damaged and fragile from the attack. However, when Rick embraces her she quickly felt safer, safe enough to cry. Although, she hadn't expressed any emotional breakdown from the attack before, she had no idea that it would hit her like this or this fast.

He hugs her back whispering in her ear, "I'm so sorry sweetheart, this shouldn't have happened to you." He continues to rub her back while holding her tighter and she keeps crying as if she has been waiting to cry for the past couple of years.

Michonne began to grow weaker from this outpour of emotion, so he slowly moves her over to the bed and they sat down, she's still unable to let him go. He was a little relieved that she broke down in front of him but, he kept feeling waves of fury rise within him over the fact that this happened.

He grabs the old top she had on then leaned her up a little to wipe her face and to blow her nose, "Here blow." Michonne blows her nose in the old shirt then sits up wiping her face.

As she began to calm down her sobs she lets out a big sigh, "I am sorry, I don't know what came over me just now. That was the one thing that I was trying to avoid." She says.

"Michonne, I would worry about your mental state if you hadn't. Given the times we are in…you have got to find a way to get rid of the pent up emotions. Especially from something like this," He tells her. "I understand why you wouldn't want to tell me Chonne' but it's unfair for you to assume that I would lose it to the point of losing our sanctuary."

Michonne looks at Rick, "If I would've told you what happened the minute you came back from the run…could you honestly say that you wouldn't have gone on a rampage to find out who did this? I mean Daryl, Glenn, Tyreese, any of you would have caused a shit storm in this survivor community over this… over me".

Rick gets up off the bed to help, "Why are you constantly excluding yourself from being important to our group? You know that everyone cares about you." He tells her.

"Rick, I am not going to let the group jeopardize their safety over me. I will heal and take care of this myself; I don't want Carl and Judith out there exposed to that craziness. Every time Judith starts to cry or gets irritated because she sleepy she puts everyone at risk. And she can't help that because she is still a baby. This is the safest place for them right now. For everybody right now…no one person is more important than the group, right?" Michonne says looking up at Rick.

Rick gets really silent for a moment then get's up to walk across the room, "Wrong. Not when one of our people gets hurt from an outsider", Rick says while walking over towards her. He kneels down in front of Michonne on the bed and holds her hands.

"But Rick…our group is considered the 'outsiders' here," Michonne says while touching Ricks face giving him a melancholy smile.

Rick stands up in a huff, grabs his flashlight and heads toward the bedroom door, "Michonne…we all care about you", he turns around and looks at her, "I care about you. You can't stop me from finding out who is responsible for doing this to you. And when I do I will try to remember this conversation but…", he shakes his head, "…the way I feel right now…I just can't make any promises regarding my actions when I find out."

Michonne walks over to Rick and says, "I have felt that way once before, I went looking for revenge remember? I went looking for trouble but, what I learned was that once you decided to go looking for trouble you never find it…it always finds you. And when it finds you it constantly causes a lot more damage than you expected to. So if you find the cowards before I do, just try to remember that part of tonight's conversation, alright?" Ricks shakes his head yes then closes the bedroom door.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: She'll be alright**

"Goodnight Judith", Jane says while putting her in the play pen. Jane walks over to Carl's bed and sits down. "Hey Carl, are you alright? I had no idea that you were tending to Michonne these past few mornings. How's she doing?"

Carl looks at Jane, "She will be alright." He says while turning his back to her.

Jane begins to walk toward the bedroom door, "Well I know she will be just fine, she's a strong woman, so as long as you and your Dad are around to protect her she will be good in no time, goodnight."

Jane goes downstairs to push the couch against the front door for security when she suddenly hears tapping at the back door. She immediately grabs the aluminum bat in the corner behind the front door then she slowly walks toward the kitchen.

Every now and then a walker somehow makes it way in to the neighborhood without detection. This has been a reoccurring problem and the neighborhood is constantly trying to come up with ideas on how to prevent these security breaches. Jane reaches the kitchen and she can see that the back door is secure but someone or something is turning the door knob. She gets a little closer to the door to see if she can hear any heavy breathing.

"Jane it's me. It's James." Her brother whispers at the back door window.

Jane, relieved that it's her brother; unties the knot and lets him in. "Why are you coming around the back door? Everyone knows who you are ", Jane whispers.

"It's dark out here I don't want to get jumped by walkers or anybody else for that matter", James says while closing the door behind. He sits down at the kitchenette with Jane.

"Everything alright here, where's Rick and Carl?" James asks her

"Rick is across the way and Carl has gone to bed." She answers.

"How are you doing?" he asks. Jane holds her index finger up to her lip and motions for James to stay put. She walks up stairs to see if Carl and Judith are asleep then she leaves their room to come back down stairs in to the kitchen. She walks over to the kitchen sink and starts to stare out the window at the blackness in the tiny backyard.

"You know when my so called mother in law, 'Mary that evil whore,' made that decision to…make use of anybody under sixteen…I knew what I had to do to keep you and Jimmy safe. Over and over again I made myself available to Gareth." Jane grabs a bottle of warm water on the kitchen counter and takes a sip. "I have saved the lives of my brothers three times already. Twice, with my own flesh and blood, the two of you owe me. I know that, I don't have to tell you how important this is to me. After Terminus…you owe me. I will never let either one of you go if the two of you don't get this done for me."

James tiredly places his elbows on the table closes his eyes and cradles is head in his hands, "I know Jane, I know", James says wearily as his voice gets a little louder. "You know we are your brothers and we love you," James lifts his head and looks up at Jane to see that she is holding her arm up over her head looking at something near her underarm. He gets up and walks over to her, "Janie you have to believe us, Gareth told us that…", just as James walks over to her, he sees that she is making long dash like cuts right beneath her under arm with a utility camping knife.

James grabs the camping tool away from her then slams it on to the counter. He grabs both of her arms and shakes her, "Please, please…hold on Jane", he whispers then gives her a big hug. But she doesn't hug back; she is in a catatonic state from having to remember her life while at Terminus. "We will make this right Janie, I promise me and Jimmy will make this right." He reassures her.

James releases her and begins to walks to the back door making sure the knot is good and tight. As he walks toward the kitchen entrance he stops, "Look Jane, I had better get going". Then he moves the couch enough to open the front, "I will see you and Judith tomorrow." He begins to walking away navigating the walkway with his flashlight.

Carl's watching James from his window as he leaves their front porch. He can hear Jane moving the couch back against the front door. Right before he releases the curtain to go back to bed he sees Daryl coming from between the two boarded house where Michonne was attacked. Carl watches as Daryl walks over to James, after a few minutes he sees Daryl walking toward the gate. Daryl told Carl earlier that morning that it was his turn to keep watch tonight. He lets go of the curtain and goes back to bed.

**XXX**

Michonne wakes up exhausted from yesterdays and last night's events. Slowly she rises up from her bed, her eyes clinch together from the pain in her ribs. As she manages to stand up she goes in the bathroom to washing her face and checks the cut on her cheek then walks down stairs. She finds Rick laid out on the couch sleep. She tilts her head a little so that her face is facing in is the same directions as his. With a tiny smile and furrow of her brows she shakes her head a little. To her, it seemed ridiculous to have this man sleep on the couch instead of in the bed with her after the Elysium incident. But she couldn't afford to assume that Rick's actions last night wasn't anything more than deep concern for a member of the group.

"Rick, Rick? ", Michonne says in a hurrying tone. He lifts his head up off of the couch arm rest and groans from the crick in his neck.

Rubbing his neck he grumbles, "I had better bring a pillow tonight."

"Why didn't you just come and ask me for a pillow," she questioned sitting down next to him. "Turn around", she gently instructions him.

Michonne begins to softly massage Rick's cramped neck and shoulder. As she presses in to his muscles he begins to whine, "Ouch!"

"Oh, I am sorry is that too hard," She chuckles.

"No no…it feels good. I needed someone to break up that tension." He says appreciatively.

Michonne feeling slightly offended at the "somebody" remark, pats Rick on the shoulder and cheerfully says, "See all better."

Just before she removes one of her hands, Rick grabs it and turns around, "Hold on… let me check that cut on your face?"

Michonne starts to feel a burst of flutters in her stomach being face to face with Rick. So she quickly responds, "No no, I checked it this morning."

When she goes to get up Rick again stops her from moving and tenderly says, "Just let me check Chonne, amuse me."

He removes one hand from hers and starts to lift up the bandage on her face. Michonne twitches her cheek a little as he lifts the tape. Rick pretends to look at her wound but he starts to smell the rosewater and olive oil on her skin. He looks Michonne in the eyes then at her delicious full lips. He softly kisses her, as if it was a test to see if his kiss is wanted. Once Michonne begins to return the jester she pulls out of the lip lock and gets up off the couch.

Rickgets up and walks over to Michonne and softly holds her face. She feels the flutters again but this time she also feels the heavy pulsating of her clitoris. She wants break out of his trance but she just can't.

He softly gives her a soft quick kiss and whispers, "No regrets, right?" then they lip embrace harder this time. Ricks manhood is getting longer and stiffer while Michonne's little man begins to drown in a river bed of her juices. Rick places his hand in the lower middle of her back while massaging the crotch of her pajama pants. And just when Rick is about to untie the draw string on her pants they hear Carl's key opening the door.

"Michonne it's me. You forgot to move the couch for me", Carl says through a slight opening in the door. Immediately Rick and Michonne stop their all so sudden foreplay.

"Ah…,hold on," Rick says in a rush. He starts to move the couch; the minute Carl can squeeze through the door he comes in then stops and stares at Rick quickly then looks at Michonne. Carl closes the door behind him gradually looking at his father on one side of the couch and again at Michonne. He can see that the both of them have beads of sweat on their forehead and are flushed in the face.

Michonne at first, bites the bottom corner of her lip then breaks the silence by blurting out, "Hey Carl, right on time. You want some cereal or oatmeal?" She turns and anxiously limps in to the kitchen.

Carl then looks at his father and sees he is noticeably uneasy as well. Carl squints his eyes at his dad and with a tiny smirk on his face and says, "Hey Dad". Rick awkwardly smiles then says, "Hey son", while putting his hands on Carl's shoulders walking him in to the kitchen.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Oatmeal and Walkers for Breakfast**

Rick walks in to the kitchen entrance and watches Michonne take out a few bowls and the same canister of oatmeal from yesterday morning. "Ah… wait", He says while walking toward her, "Let me open that for you."

Michonne hands the canister to Rick then grabs a pot out of the dish drain and she pours two bottles of water in to the pot, As Michonne lights the burner Karl asks, "How are you feeling?" "Tired…but alright I guess", she answered.

Rick sits down at card table in the kitchen, "Michonne that gash on your leg needs stitches and as soon as possible. Your leg won't heal right."

She looks at the bowl as she fills one with dry oatmeal, "Do want some oatmeal?" she asks.

"Yea, I could eat," Rick answers.

"I was asking Karl" Michonne says while smiling at Karl, "But I can make some for you too."

The three of them sit down at the card table and begin to eat in silence. The room feels bizarre because this is the first time Rick, Michonne and Karl are sitting together eating breakfast…like a family.

Out of the awkward silence Rick announces, "So we are gonna start going out in teams to kill walkers on the perimeter of the neighborhood to avoid them gathering in herds. If we go at them like that, we stand a chance at protecting the neighborhood." Rick looks at the both them with a bit of confusion because neither one says anything.

Michonne and Karl glance at each other with raised brows by Rick's announcement then they continue eating. Rick didn't know that the last thing They talked about in the mornings was the outside world.

She breaks the quiet by saying, "O.k. Karl whatcha got for me today? I got good one for you." Rick grins then looks at Karl a curiously.

Karl smiles then says, "Alright, amusement parks."

"Hmmm, yea I kinda miss them a lot too," she says in agreement, "But mine's is still better."

Rick smiles at Michonne while waiting to see what she misses from the old world.

"Saturday morning cartoons", She annouces with triumph.

"Aww come on…" Karl laughs in a defeated tone,"…Yea yours is better." He tells her.

"See, I told you." She teases then she smiles at Rick, "What about you, something that you miss from the old world?"

"Who me…" Rick says surprised that they want him to play the game too. "Well now let me see…"

"And it has to be something that everyone in this room can enjoy. You know, it can't be something like beer or something only grown-ups can do", Karl chimes in.

"Oh o.k." Rick laughs. "How about…sports. Particularly football, but I would say sports. Baseball, basketball the Olympics…all of it," He tells them.

As Rick leans back in the chair waiting to see if his answer will beat Michonne's. She looks at Rick with squinted eyes and wrinkles her nose a bit then she looks over at Karl who starts smiling and shaking his head now in agreement with his father.

Michonne pouts her lips to the side, "Yea, o.k. that one is better." Rick nodes his head in agreement then does a hi-five with Karl. "Yea, I do miss the Olympics. I had a chance to be in the 1996 Olympics." She says.

Rick and Karl sit up in their chairs eagerly waiting for more details. "Doing what?" Karl asks.

"Fencing".

"Really, what happened?" Rick asks with eagerness.

Now, Michonne leans back in her chair, "Well, I was on the fencing team in college and I was chosen to compete for a spot on the Olympic team. I made it on to the Olympic team…but my husband, well my fiancé' at the time didn't believe women knew anything about sports and that women shouldn't even be in the Olympics. So after he told me that it would be too embarrassing for him to have a fiancé' on the Olympic fencing team I…I quit."

Rick and Karl just stare at her. They could believe that she would allow anyone especially a man dictate what she could and couldn't do.

Michonne shrugs her shoulders, looks down at the table and sighs, "I was a different person back then."

Karl is still curious about Michonne's past so he asks, "Did you marry him?"

She begins to push away from the table and says, "Yea, we did. But we ended up getting a divorce later when I wanted to finish getting my law degree, She pauses a moment, "When I look back on it he didn't like the fact that I had a…strong spirit. He didn't want a wife...he wanted a subordinate."

Rick is quiet while Michonne tells this story from her past, for some reason her story gave Rick a better understanding of why she was a loner. She was strong-willed and clearly she was too strong-willed for some men. However, for the current reality that they were all in that type of strength in a woman was a necessity if she wanted to survive.

Michonne gets up from the table and collects everyone's bowl and walks over to the kitchen sink.

Rick decides to change the subject, "So Karl did everything go alright last night?"

Karl looks away from Michonne and looks at his father and says, "Yea, I guess. Jane's brother stopped by after Judith and I went to sleep. But it was a little weird though…because they kept whispering…"

As Michonne looks out of the kitchen window she sees a 15-20 walkers coming toward the chicken and barb wire lined along the small backyard. The chicken wire had old chicken soup cans tied to it so it can wake people at night in case walkers come around.

"Walkers!" she says out loud.

Rick quickly jumps up and looks out the window, "Shit! Once they hit that chicken wire they are gonna alert walkers from every."

Rick and Karl run to the front door then he tells Karl, "Look get over to the house and tell Jane to take Judith and hide in the bedroom. Once you do that round up everybody that can kill walkers at close range we need to kill them with as little noise as possible."

Karl shakes his head in agreement and says, "What about Michonne?"

Rick says in a hurry, "She will be alright if she stays in the house. Now go hurry up."

Michonne comes out of the kitchen and says to Rick, "I'm coming, let me get my sword!"

Rick is instantly an irritated that she would even think to come out while still recovering from her attach earlier in the week.

He stands in the front doorway and says, "Please Michonne don't do this, now. I know you're strong but you can't fight right now. Please stay in the house and let us handle this one."

"What? I'm coming out there to help you." She says loudly.

"No you're not! If you come out there I'll be distracted with if you are alright instead of killing walkers. Please do this for me...stay in the house please?" Rick begs while quickly grabbing the machete behind the front door then he closes it leaving Michonne standing in shock.

She knew that he was right, she couldn't fight right now. In order to use a sword she would have to use every part of body that was actually injured. So she resentfully moves the couch against the front door then she starts hearing the tin can alarm coming from the chicken wire.

Karl starts running across the street toward the house and yells out, "Walkers, walkers!" Daryl was waiting for the next team to take over the watch of the neighborhood entrance when he heard Karl yelling.

"Where," Daryl yelled.

"Coming toward Michonne's backyard", Karl yells back. My Dad wants everyone that can kill them at close range so there isn't a lot of noise that will attract more of them.

Jane opens the door holding Judith hand about to come out of the house. "Jane go back in the house there are walkers coming toward Michonne's backyard! Go upstairs and lock yourself in the bedroom." Karl yells out. Jane shakes her and quickly closes the door while Karl starts running up the block to round up some more people to help with walkers when he hears the noise of the clanging tins cans coming from down the block.


	7. Chapter 7

Karl keeps running up the up the block screaming, "Walkers are breaching the perimeter" alerting Ricks group from Terminus and other survivors in the neighborhood. As soon as Tyreese hears Karl yelling, he comes to the door of his house and shouts out to Karl, "Where?" "In Michonne's backyard, my Dad wants anyone that can kill them up close so there isn't a lot of noise. Gather up who you can", Karl adds as he turns around to go back down the block.

Tyreese runs back inside to grab his hammer, "Carol we got walkers down by Michonne's, Rick needs everyone that can kill'em up close, "he shouts out while grabbing his jacket. Carol spurts out of the kitchen with her barbed wire tipped lead pipe then she runs out of the front door slamming it behind her.

Glenn and Maggie run out and see's their group going down the block toward Michonne's place. Glenn observes Eugene racing down the block too. Glenn glances over at Maggie peculiarly because Eugene doesn't join in when battling walkers at close range in fact, Eugene doesn't slay walkers at all because he is too much of a coward. Ever since Rick blew holes in his disguise of being a governmental scientist he has been looked upon by everyone as being a very weak and pitiful addition to the group.

"Eugene, what the hell are you doing?" Glenn questions him while running downing the block. "Oh…I heard you guys were down a fighter", Eugene replies out of breath, Glenn looks at Maggie while running then glances back at Eugene, "What?!" Eugene begins to get winded and slows down, "Michonne was attacked the other night" he's yells while trying to catch his breath.

Maggie and Glenn reach the weapons barrel at the same time as Jane's younger brother Jimmy. "Jimmy, did Janie say anything to you about Michonne being attacked? Maggie says out breath while grabbing a long handle camp axe out of the barrel. Jimmy catches his breath from running down the block and grabs the cold steel trail boss out of the cart nervously then shakes his head no. Maggie turns to Glenn, "What is Eugene talking about; I thought she was just sick!"

Jimmy looks over at Eugene frantically but doesn't say a word. Glenn sees the look on Jimmy's face out the corner of his eye before he snatches a brush axe out of the crate then starts running to the other side of the cul de sac yelling, "Come on!"

Just as Michonne hurries upstairs to the bedroom she can hear the clanging noises of all those tin cans along the fence. She hastily limps in to the bedroom and looks out the window. She can see Rick, Daryl, Carol and Tyreese exterminating walkers that have made it pass the chicken wire in to the yard. Right before Michonne turns around to change clothes she sees Glenn, Maggie and Jimmy racing toward the opposite end of the yard.

Michonne tries to change clothes as fast she can, but needs to lean her hand against the bedroom wall to give her some support while she slips in to her boots standing up, "Grrrr," she moans under her breath from her sore ribs. Once she is dressed she grabs her sword then right before she is about to leave to go help she decides to look out the window one more time. She looks out the window and she sees, Bob, Eugene, Sasha, James, Tara and a few other elderly survivors that were already living in the neighborhood before Rick's group came there for sanctuary. She takes the binoculars and tries to look past the yard and the chicken wire fence but, the morning sun is much too bright. Once she focuses the binoculars she can sees the knee high green grassy fields, then two walkers come in to her view. She pans right and sees a few more. They are being drawn in by the noise of the tin cans. Something that the survivors of the neighborhood thought would be an advance warning system has now turned in to a dinner bell.

As Daryl kills walkers with a fire poker the rising morning sun is blinding him a bit however, he can see something other than the tall grass moving in the fields beyond the yard. He spots the same walkers Michonne sees from her bedroom window. "Rick, were getting more of them we gotta stop the noise coming from these tin cans!" "Stop the cans from making noise there bringing in more walkers", Daryl hollers out.

Rick looks up briefly and see's at least another 25 to 30 walkers coming toward them from the grassy fields being drawn in by the noise of the tin cans. So with his machete he begins to kill walkers and break up the tin cans clanging together attracting walkers. Soon everyone is trying to stop the noise and kill the walkers.

Michonne can see that they are starting to make head way with the walkers in the yard through her binoculars. She looks up and sees Tara in the far left corner of the yard killing walkers with a pix axe. Michonne looks up beyond the yard and sees James, Jimmy and Eugene heading out to the field to kill the gathering walkers. She sees Tara running up towards them as well to help with the walkers. Michonne scans across the field again and she can see that the walkers in the field are moving faster and bunching up.

James starts to kill the field walkers when he sees Eugene and Jimmy to the right of him killing walkers too. He turns back around to kill two more field walkers when he hears Eugene scream. James turns around he sees Eugene being attacked by three walkers. James looks at Jimmy because he knows that Jimmy could've killed at least two of those walkers before they got Eugene. "Jim what are you doing!" James screams. "He told Glenn and Maggie about the attack on Michonne", Jimmy yells out.

Just as Tara catches up with James, Jimmy and Eugene she sees Jimmy take his trail boss and chops in to Eugene's leg. Tara hollers, "Nooo!" When she catches up to Jimmy she begins to scream at him, "What the hell are you doing!" Tara looks down and sees Eugene being eaten alive by the walkers. Before she is able to say another word James comes up behind her and whacks her in the back with his aluminum bat thrusting her on to the same walkers that were tearing in to Eugene's flesh.

Michonne is having a hard time keeping James, Jimmy and Eugene in focus due to the tall bladed grass. Suddenly she sees Jimmy swing his trail boss low right next Eugene then she sees Eugene fall. Michonne gasps in horror, then from her binoculars she sees Tara running up to Jimmy yelling at him. Just when Michonne tries to pan out to get a wider view she no longer sees Tara yelling at Jimmy in fact she doesn't see Tara at all however, she can hear her screaming. The only people she sees now are James and Jimmy killing walkers.

Rick, Daryl, Tyreese and Carol start heading to the right of the field beyond the yard. The field walkers are clustering up. Rick Daryl and Tyreese go after the largest cluster while Carol picks off the lone walkers with her lead pipe. She starts veering off further to the right when she sees that Rick, Daryl and Tyreese about to get surrounded. So she runs back to help them. Some of the walkers behind the three that they thought were killed with one blow to the skull aren't quiet dead. When Carol reaches up to the three of them she sees a walker coming up behind Daryl. With all her strength she races up to the walker that is about to catch Daryl off guard she screams out, "Noo, Daryl look out!", and bludgeons the walker in the head. Carol is so relieved that she stopped the walker from getting Daryl that she forgets about the other walkers that the three thought they killed.

Daryl turns around after hearing Carol call his name. When he turns around one of the walkers he thought he had killed comes up behind Carol and rips out a piece of her shoulder. "Carol!" Daryl hollers. Then he runs back to Carol and kills the walker dead then picks Carol up and carries her back to yard.

Tyreese and Rick hear Carol screaming, they turn around and see that Carol has been beaten. "Carol!" Rick yells. "Nooo, Carol!" Tyreese screams. Both men see Daryl kill the walker that attacked Carol, and then they see him carrying her back to the yard. As much as Rick and Tyreese want to go back with Daryl to the yard they know they have to kill the rest of these field walkers first.

Glenn and Maggie see Daryl in the distance running back to the yard but they can't see why because of the high grass. They continue going further in to the fields killing walkers. Glenn takes a quick glimpse back at Daryl and he sees that he is carrying Carol in his arms, "Caro..." Glenn instantly becomes choked up as he can see Carol is bleeding profusely from the shoulder. Glenn gets enraged and starts killing every walker in site as if it was the one that bit Carol. Maggie looks at Glenn and sees that he is red in the face with tears. Maggie looks back at the yard and sees Daryl carrying Carol back in to the yard. "Nooo! God damn it!" Maggie yells then she immediately starts to kill walkers with the same fury as Glenn.

As Michonne tries to races down stairs as fast as she can with her sword in her hand she hears Daryl scream Carol's names. Once she gets to the back door she removes the coaxial cable knot and opens it. When she steps outside she sees Daryl carrying Carol to the yard. "Oh no, no!" Michonne yells out. "Bring her inside!" While Daryl carries Carol's body up the back steps Michonne looks around and sees that group has gotten the number field walkers down to about 12. She holds the door open for Daryl as he brings Carol inside. Michonne follows a sobbing Daryl in to the living where he kneels on the floor to lay Carol down on the couch. He takes his vest and shirt off in order to wrap it around Carol's bleeding shoulder. Michonne is in tears because she realizes that their group is about to lose another member.

Daryl breaks down and starts crying on Carol's good shoulder, "Carol, Carol! Why!" he screams. Carol lays on the couch not saying a word but she cries seeing how upset Daryl is by her getting bit. She lifts her hand and touches his face, "it's alright Daryl. You will be alright." "Just don't let me turn." She says while trying to breathing. She looks over at Michonne, "Michonne don't let me turn, promise me?" Michonne leans on the back of the couch. Daryl looks at Carol and sobbingly says, "I can't, I can't Carol. Please don't ask me to do this, please."

Rick and Tyreese come rushing through Michonne's kitchen door and they see Carol bleeding on the couch. Tyreese drops to his knees in front of the couch arm rest in torment and begins to weep; he reaches his hand up to touch Carol's leg then pulls it back as if removing his hand would help her live. Rick stands in the middle of the living room a little ways from the couch then he looks at Carol and squats down to her level in the middle of the floor holding his head in his hands shaking his head in nonbelief.

Carol looks down past her legs to see Tyreese at her feet then she shakes her head no while telling him, "Tyreese don't… don't let me turn." "No Carol, please don't go...please." Tyreese tells her in a timid voice. Carol then lifts her head just enough to push Daryl to the side to see Rick in the middle of the floor crying. Rick looks up at her reluctantly he walks over to her and kneels down in front of her then he grabs her hand. Rick can barely bring his self to speak when he says, "Car…Carol I am so sorry. You saved my little girl from Terminus, you saved all of us from there. I shouldn't have sent you…" Carol squeezes Rick's hand tight and quietly says, "Rick I told you there is nothing that I wouldn't do for our people. Nothing." She whispers. "But now I'm afraid it's your turn to do what I had to back at the prison and at the grove." Rick burst in to tears because he didn't want to but, he also knew that he was the only one now who understood what she did at the prison and why he is the one that will have to take care of her before she turned. "Rick I don't trust anyone else here to do it, "Promise me, promise me." She whispers again. Rick looks down at the floor then looks at her shoulder then at the rest of her body as it begins to jerk from shock. Rick touches her leg with his other hand trying to control the shaking of her body. He looks back up at her and shakes his head yes.

Maggie, Glenn, Bob and Sasha rush in through the kitchen door, just as they run in to the living room they see Rick with Daryl's fire poker in his hand as he rams it in to Carol forehead. Michonne's living room is dead silent. The only things that can be heard are the faint noises of one or two tin cans clanging together on the broken chicken wire fence in the yard.

Rick walks away from Michonne's house in daze. The sun was now in the position of noon. All the events so far that morning seemed to happen so fast it felt like he may have been dreaming. One second he was kissing Michonne the next he was laughing with Karl and Michonne in the kitchen eating oatmeal, the next second he was driving a fire poker through the skull Carol Peletier . She was one of the last survivors from the Atlanta group after he left King County. The only people left from that group were Daryl, Glenn Rick and Karl. Rick stopped in the middle of the street trying to get a hold of his thoughts. But the only thing that kept coming to his mind was the words that Morgan told him, "There will be a reckoning." Rick couldn't help thinking that maybe this was his reckoning. He sentenced Carol to banishment for killing Karen and David because they were dying and yet he had just committed the same act. Rick decided that he needed to get out of his head so he went back home to check on Karl and Judith.

Rick knocks on the door, "Karl? It's me." He hears someone moving the couch from against the door. Karl opens the door and sees his father covered in blood. Rick walks in and closes the door and tells Karl, "I'm alright." Jane comes down stairs slowly with a daunting look on her face, "Who, was it my brothers?" she asks. "Is Michonne o.k.?" Karl asks. "No, no they are all fine. We lost Tara, Eugene…", then Rick looks at Jane and Karl, "…we lost Carol." The three of them stood in silence. Karl turned around and ran upstairs to his room and closes the door. Rick plops down on the couch depleted of energy and emotion.

Jane walks in to the kitchen and places Judith in her high chair and puts some chopped carrots on her tray. She walks back in to the living and sits down next to Rick, "Oh, honey I am so sorry. Carol..., she was a good woman. She saved me and brothers, Judith, you and your group." She said in a sad voice but with no tears. Jane places her arm around Rick's neck and gently pulls his head to her shoulder and begins to stroke his bloodied matted hair. "Tara and Eugene…" Jane sighs then whispers, "…they were such good people." "Tara and Eugene were taken by walkers but…Carol got bit pretty bad, it was just a matter of time before…" Rick stops speaking cause he can't bring himself to say out loud what he had to do. Jane softly rubs his hair a little more and whispers, "Is Michonne alright?" "Yea, she wasn't out there thank goodness." Rick tells her with the sound of relief in his voice.

Rick gets up from the couch, "Look, I am going to go take a shower but first I am going to talk to Karl." He tells her. Rick goes upstairs and knocks on Karl's bedroom door, "Karl? Can I come in?" Karl doesn't answer so Rick opens the door and he sees Karl sitting on the bed staring out the window. "Karl, are you alright?" Rick asks him. Karl takes a deep breath then he turns around to look at Rick, "I don't know?" Rick walks over to him and places his hand on his shoulder then Rick kneels down to his level, "I know how you feel, Carol has been with us a long time. She helped us get out of Terminus…" Karl interrupts his father, "No that's not it. I mean…I know she has been with us and she saved all of us from Terminus. It's just that, hearing about her death makes me feel nothing like…numb." "I just feel like I knew this was going to happen all along. I mean I will miss her and I will miss Tara and Eugene but I don't feel sad. What's wrong with me Dad?" Rick looks at Karl, "Karl you're probably in shock by the news that's all. There's nothing wrong with you." Karl looks at his father with a look of doubt all over his face and says, "Are you sure? Are you sure the sadness will come. Cause I really don't think it will Dad." Karl walks out of the room but before he leaves his father he says, "I hope you are right about there being nothing wrong with me, I better go help them clean up the dead." Then he walks out of the room. Rick stands up and stands still for a minute. He knew that if Karl didn't have any grief for the people that they lost today he will have crossed a point of no return. And if he has crossed that thin line he will have failed him as a father.


	8. Chapter 8: 151 Proof

After the devastating loss of Carol, Tara and Eugene the post Terminus group insists that Michonne stay with someone in order to keep her safe while she heals from her injuries. Rick offers to have her stay with him and Jane but Sasha and Bob feel it would be best if she stays with them so they can tend to her injuries. Michonne is very reluctant to have anyone take care of her but; she realizes that the group has been severely weakened by the acute catastrophe of the 3 members of their group and especially the demise of Carol Peletier. So she packs her clothes and her sword and goes to share a house temporarily with Bob, Sasha, Daryl and Tyreese. Daryl chooses to stay in the living room so Michonne has some place to rest properly and also because Bob and Sasha need to take care of the gash on her leg.

As Michonne lamely walks in to her new tentative home Sasha leads her upstairs to the room where she will be staying, once the two enter the room Michonne slowly limps across the room to an old wooden dresser. The dresser has a large mirror frame attached to it but the mirror has a large diagonal crack that runs from one corner to its opposite. Sasha quietly closes the door behind her to in order to speak with Michonne privately. Sasha leans on the door because she doesn't want anyone to walk in.

"O.k. Chonne' I am not here to intrude or to be nosey but we need you now more than ever. We lost three people in a about of 30 minutes early this morning. Now, I can understand that you may not want to tell me anything specific I get that but, like I said we need you back healthy and that won't happen if you don't let me check out all of your injuries. No one with the exception Rick, Daryl and Karl know specifics. Judging by your unwillingness to have me give you are full examination I can take a pretty good educated guess as to exactly what happened but that is beside the point." Sasha gradually starts to walk closer to Michonne, each step she takes makes a cricking noise on the floor, "Let. Me. Help. You," she says in short bursts.

Michonne takes her satchel and katana and gently lays it on the floor next to the old jalopy wooden dresser, take a deep sigh and shakes her head yes. "Alright let me get my stuff, while I am gone you lock the door and strip down to underwear and bra." Sasha instructs her.

Meanwhile its mid-afternoon and there is a moist breeze flowing through the tall grassy fields where Carol was fatally bit. Tyreese, Daryl and Glenn dig a grave for Carol's body neither one of the men have said word. With every stab in to the ground each of them take with their shovel they release the sorrow and heartache that flows from their bodies in to the soft earth.

After a while, Rick, Maggie, Jane, Karl, Judith, James and Jimmy arrive at the grave just before they are about to lower Carol Peletier 's body in to the ground. "Maybe someone should say a few words…" Tyreese says with anguish in his voice. He looks around at the Carol's mourners but he can see that no one wants to speak. So Daryl and Glenn lay Carol to rest in the grave and start the emotionally painful process of covering her body with the earth. Tyreese, Jane and the others somberly start to walk away leaving Rick, Daryl, and Glenn behind standing around the grave.

As the three of them look at the grave they can hardly look each other in the eye nor do they speak any words, there are no words that have to be said with regard to Carol's death. The fact that the only adults left from their first group are the three of them is simply terrifying. But neither one of them will speak of the sheer panic that they are feeling at this intensely bitter moment.

Daryl looks away from Carol's grave and glances up at the sky and he can see the sun is starting to disappear under darkening storm clouds. He feels the warmness of his tears streaming down his face as the moist breeze turns in to storm winds, with an immensely heavy sigh Daryl wipes his face and nose with his sleeve and says, "We better get moving if we wanna collect this rain water." Then the last three adult survivors from the Atlanta group walk away in separate directions wondering not if they will die but when, where and how.

Sasha closes the door to Michonne's room when she hears Bob, Tyreese and Rick talking in the living room. She comes down stairs and walks over to them, "Well how is she?" Rick asks anxiously, "Her ribs are just bruised it will take I would say 3-4 weeks for it to heal properly but, I want Bob to take a look at it too just for a second opinion. Her leg is another story. She has been trying to keep it clean but it doesn't smell like hits healing correctly and I think that's because somebody needs to really get in there clean it and stitch it up…today." Sasha tells them. "Alright let's get started," Tyreese tells her. "There's one minor detail…I don't have any pain killers all I have is Motrin and antibiotics the Motrin won't kick in fast enough before we lose the light. In order to clean that wound properly she's going to need something for the pain and..." Sasha says with some hesitance, "We are gonna need at least two strong people to hold her still in the process." Everyone gets quiet. Bob un-expectantly turns toward the stairs and says, "Hold that thought," then he runs up the stairs to their bedroom. When he comes back down stairs he has a fifth of Bacardi 151 proof in his hand.

"I picked this up on a run a few months back…just in case," Bob pauses, "…well I don't need it anymore. A combination of this and about 800mg of Motrin we may stand a chance at not getting the shit kicked out of us by her while Sasha cleans and stitches her leg." Bob tells them. "That's the plan?" Rick says looking at the three. "Hold on she may not like it but, I think Bob should take care of the cleaning and the stitches." Sasha says. Bob looks at her confused, "I mean I can do stitches but Bob has been on the front lines of war giving stitches maybe he's better suited for this type of surgery." Bob is silent at first then shakes his head, "She's right I probably would be better suited especially for someone who's going to be moving around" Bob says agreeing with her. "Let's get Abraham in here to hold her other leg down, Sasha you assist me with the surgery and pour her the 151 if she needs it." Bob tells everyone confidently. It looks like it's about to rain so we're gonna need to gather up as much water as possible boil it and get some clean dry sheets. Sasha, you go in there and let her know what needs to be done, give her the Motrin and antibiotics and give her a lot of shots. We should probably gather as many candles and spare flashlights as we can. The way it looks outside we are gonna lose the light earlier than usual today." He instructs everyone.

Bob and Tyreese start for the front door, "Shouldn't she eat something before she drinks that?" Tyreese asks while walking out the front door with Bob. "Naw, the alcohol will hit her a lot fast on an empty stomach." Bob tells him closing the front door behind them. As Tyreese and Bob walk out the front door, Rick stops Sasha before going up stairs and asks, "Sasha, give me a minute to talk with her." Sasha agrees and hands him the bottle of Bacardi and walks in to the kitchen.

Swollen storm clouds begin to set the stage for the down pour about to take place on the tiny survivor neighborhood. Michonne is leaning up against the side of the long window sill still in her underwear and bra. She watches how graceful the storms clouds move across the fading pale blue sky. The fusing of the voluminous clouds and lightening and yet no thunder gives her an eerie uneasiness of what's to come. Her wondering thoughts are disrupted by the closing of the front door down stair. She watches Bob and Tyreese as they walk next door.

Rick knocks on the bedroom door, "Michonne, it's Rick can I come in?" he asks. "It's open." She says. Rick opens the door and he spots Michonne standing by the window watching Bob and Tyreese walking next door to get Abe. He forgets himself as he eyes her dark brown toned legs and how perfectly snug her underwear caresses her bottom and hips. Rick closes his eyes so that her can clear his thoughts because he's distressed over what he has to tell her.

"Listen we have plan for your leg. Sasha said that…" Michonne cuts him off, "I heard the plan. It's fine Rick." "Oh…well that's good." He says with his long southern drawl. He pauses for a second then looks down at the bottle in his hand, "This 151 proof alcohol is pretty strong…it will probably…well, I've seen men drink a 1/5 of moonshine straight down and start hallucinating. There's no telling what you might see when this hits you…" Rick pauses again briefly then continues with, "I just don't want you to get confused with what happened a few days ago and what we are trying to do now because we're gonna have to hold your arms and legs down." Michonne turns away from the window and hobbles over to Rick and reaches for the bottle then she sympathetically touches his rugged beard, and with petite smile says with heavy sigh, "I hear you Grimes…I hear you."

Any other early evening the sun can still be seen as it disappears in to the horizon but today storm clouds seem to have shown up on queue with the events from earlier this morning and the impending events to come. Just as the last of the daylight begins to disappear Michonne watches as the window becomes saturated with raindrops. The window and window sill are old and she can feel the trickles of rain on her toes and it seeps its way inside the room. She slowly sips her second cup of luke warm Bacardi 151 when she sees James and Jimmy running down the block en route to Rick's house. Her gaze upon the brothers from her window is long as the Motrin and 151 start to quickly take effect. While she watches the brothers rush down the block in the rain she is reminded of what she saw or what she thinks she saw happen in the fields earlier that morning.

The bedroom is now setup like a makeshift O.R. There are lit candles setup all around the room, and about 7-8 flashlights hanging very low from the ceiling hovering over the bed and bowls of sterilized water on the side. Michonne takes another sip slowly when she hears Rick, Tyreese and Abe walk in to the room. Bob and Sasha are whispering to them but Michonne can't quite hear what they are mumbling due to the alcohol. Michonne closes her eyes because she can feel the Motrin and the Bacardi coming down on her harder and harder with every sip. When she opens hers eyes Jimmy and James are out of view but she can see everyone behind her through the reflection of the window. She sees everyone's face then she sees Rick staring at her from the reflection as well, but suddenly her vision begins to blur Rick's reflection. She all of the sudden stands up straight takes a deep breath and drowns the last of the Bacardi in her cup then she turns around to everyone in the room and says, "Alright, I'm ready."

As Michonne limps and staggers at the same time toward the bed holding on to the wall in the process, Sasha walks over to her to help her to the bed but Michonne pulls away from her. Sasha puts her hands up cautiously as she is doesn't want to upset her in this state; as Sasha steps back a little she glances over at the Bob. "Looks like Michonne's not feeling anything no more." Abraham chuckles, but no one else is laughing. Michonne makes her way to the bed and lies down on her back and spreads her legs apart. Everyone with the exception of Abraham can appreciate the sensitivity involved. It would appear that no one is interested in hearing Abraham's voice much less any insensitive jokes.

Tyreese moves to the top of the mattress on his knees ready to hold Michonne's arms while Abe and Rick are at the bottom ready to hold her legs. Bob quickly explains to everyone in the room what he has to do and how important it is that she is kept as still as possible. Michonne closes her eyes as she starts to feels her head spinning; she's trying to remember what Rick told her earlier about the hallucinations. "Alright Chonne, here we go." Bob says. Rick and Abe grab her smooth dark legs tightly while Tyreese grabs both of her arms tightly as well. Michonne wiggles her arms and legs a little, an automatic reaction to being held down.

Sasha pours the vinegar on the wound and Michonne lets out a blood curdling scream that shakes the room. Bob motions to Sasha to pour some more on it. She screams again, "FUUUCK! Give me another drink damn it!" Sasha gives her another shot of Bacardi. Michonne throws the shot down her throat, takes deep breathes then, looks down at Bob motioning him to start working on cleaning the wound. Michonne groans loudly as he digs deep in to the wound trying to clean it thoroughly. When Bob is finished cleaning the wound he tells Sasha to pour more vinegar on the wound. Michonne screams aloud again, "Ahhhh! You mutha fucker!"

Rick can't bear to look Michonne in the face as it's too painful for him to see her in such agony. Tyreese is look down over top of Michonne and sees that she keeps trying to lean up to look on the floor. He follows her line of sight and he sees that she is looking at her katana on the floor. "Sasha, move that sword across the room out of her site. If she somehow grabs a hold of that thing she may cut us all to pieces." Tyreese yells.

"Alright, it looks pretty clean. I'm ready to start on the stitches. It's gonna be some pretty deep stitches so hold her down tighter", Bob announces. Sasha gives her another shot. Bob looks around at everyone signaling to get ready. Bob pierces Michonne's skin with a needle and she screams out more obscenities. "Wait…" Rick says, "Sasha rip one of those pillow cases and gag her she may attract every walker within a quarter mile radius."

Michonne slips out of consciousness for a moment from the Bacardi and the pain, when she come back in to consciousness a few minutes later she realizes that she has been gagged, suddenly forgetting everything Rick said earlier and why she is there in the first place.

Michonne starts struggling trying to get up because this feels almost exactly like what happened a few days ago. "Michonne look at me, look at me! You're alright!" Sasha tells her. "Hold her down." Bob yells, and then he starts the stitching again. Michonne starts to scream with the torn pillow case wrapped around her mouth and head trying to move her legs and arms as hard as she can. She starts crying and screaming a muffled "No!" when she finally passes out from the pain and trauma of the surgery.

Bob puts a bandage on the wound and announces that he is done. Tyreese lays her limp arms by her side while Abe and Rick release her legs slowly. "I think it went well. Sasha can check it later when she wakes up," Bob tells everybody. Abe follows up with, "You mean once she sobers up." Everyone stops and looks at Abe with contempt and disgust by his malice remark. Then Tyreese looks over at and he can see Rick turn around trying to contain himself from beating Abe unconscious. "Abe let me walk you out." Tyreese says ushering him out the room.

Bob and Sasha begin cleaning up the Medical supplies while Rick turns off the dangling flashlights. As they head for the door, Sasha turns around and sees Rick sitting on the tool Bob was using for the surgery, covering Michonne up with a blanket. "It's getting dark out and it's raining like crazy out there what about Karl and Judith?" Sasha asks. "I told them I would probably be here a while so Jane's brothers are gonna stay the night." He responds. Rick goes back to staring at Michonne as if Sasha wasn't even there. Sasha gives him tiny smile and nod and closes the door slowly while watching flicking candles around the room.


	9. Chapter 9

James and Jimmy knock on Jane's door in the pouring rain soaked to the bone. James is alarmed because he isn't sure if Jimmy is shaking because of the cold rain or if he is still shook up by what he did to Eugene earlier that morning.

Jane opens the door and lets her brothers in. They both immediately walk in to the kitchen and they see Karl sitting at the table and Judith in her high chair eating some left over rabbit that was retrieved by Karl and Daryl yesterday morning from the Rick's snares. "Hey Karl what's up buddy" James says with a smile while trying to shake of the excess rain, "Nothing much James, Hey Jimmy?" Karl says. Jimmy simply nods his head then walks back in to the living room. Karl looks at Jane and James with a confused look on his face, "What's wrong with Jimmy?" He asked.

Jane watches as Jimmy walks off in to the living room to sit down on the couch. While Jane is observing Jimmy, Karl is watching Jane's facial expression as it goes from freakishly cheery to cold and dark.

Karl could never get a good feel for Jane and her brothers. Once Rick found out that Jane was instrumental in keeping Judith safe at Terminus and how she managed to lead Tyreese and Carol to his train car made Rick feel eternally grateful. But Karl couldn't get over how nice she was all the time. She was never mean or upset about anything. If you heard her stomach growling she would say that it was gas. Jane didn't act normal. She always acted like everything was fine, even when they weren't. There were times when Karl would catch her with both of her hands on the sides of the stove and she would just stand there looking down at the burners. She could stay in that position over the stove two maybe three hours. But anytime Rick came in to the house she could break the trance and become weirdly happy again. Karl didn't know what to make of her, Karl couldn't say that he liked Jane but he also could say that he didn't. Which meant (at least to Karl) she shouldn't be here. But he was of the same mind as his father with regard to the safety of Judith. Jane did take good care of Judith and Karl knew his father couldn't take care of a toddler all day every day even if he wanted to. He just didn't feel the need to have her under the same roof as them. Karl would rather have Michonne than Jane.

"Karl, I am gonna take them upstairs and get some dry clothes for them. You keep an eye on your sister, o.k.?' Jane says. Karl nods his head in agreement.

Once Jane and her brothers get upstairs she closes the door and locks it. "What happened this morning?" She says while locking the door behind her. "Why isn't she gone? " Jane says with annoyance. "There was a problem." James says while looking at Jimmy. "What problem?" She asks. Jimmy looks at Jane from the corner of his eye intimated and frightened by her reactions so far. "Eugene said something to Glenn and Maggie about her being attacked so I wounded Eugene in the leg and he got bitten by walkers." Jimmy tells her with a quiet quiver in his voice. "Tara saw what Jimmy did and started yelling so I pushed her in to the same walkers that were eating Eugene, I had no choice. Michonne stayed inside. Daryl said that Carol got bit while trying to save him from walkers." James says.

Jane turns toward Rick's dresser and starts to pull out some dry clothes for them quietly. "Yea, that was a pity what happened to Carol" she tells them. "Did anyone else see what you did?" she asked. James shakes his head no while taking of his soaked shirt and pants. As Jane hands some dry clothes to her brothers she starts to walk around the bedroom slowly contemplating what they should do next. "Well just leave things the way they are until things cool off." She said quietly opening the door to leave. Just as she begins to go down stairs she sees Karl coming up with Judith. "What are doing? Did you guys finish your dinner already?" she says in that oddly cheerful voice. "Yea, Judith started falling asleep in her chair." Karl says grinning at Judith. "Oh, I'll take her off your hands." She says reaching for Judith. Karl pulls away and says, "No, it's alright I'll put her to bed." "Oh, o.k. sure" she responded.

The next morning Rick is still waiting for Michonne to wake up from the surgery the night before. He's sitting on the floor against the wall sleeping. Michonne turns over on her side with the bruised rib and wakes up from the pain. As she opens her eyes she sees Rick against the wall sleep. When she sees him she starts to remember what happened the day before and realizes that she has a huge headache.

Gradually she sits up and looks down at the gash on her leg then puts her feet on the floor preparing to get up. She moans softly so that she doesn't wake Rick. When she stands she immediately begins to scan the room for her sword. She limps to the middle of the room to get a larger view. As she begins scanning the room she starts to get nervous because she can't find the sword anywhere. "Rick where's my katana?" She walks over to Rick against the wall, "Rick, Rick, where's my sword?" Rick wakes up briefly confused as to where he was. "It's right here next to me. You were hallucinating during the surgery. So we got a little concerned that you might dice us up if you got loose," he tells with a chuckle. Michonne was in shock by the idea that she was that drugged up and says, "Really? Oh wow. Did I hurt anyone? "No, but it took a lot of strength to hold you down." Rick says smiling while get up off the floor. "How do you feel?" "Like I've been in two bar fights." She laughs while grabbing some shorts and a t-shirt.

Rick starts to moan and rubs his neck. Michonne looks at Rick, "This is the second night that you haven't slept in a bed Rick. Go home. I will be alright here." She tells him. As she walks over to the window she sees that the rain has stopped but the overcast has remained. "Rick, is everything alright at your house?" She questioned him. "Why what's up, what wrong?" Rick says anxiously while walking toward her by the window. "No, nothing is '_wrong'_ Rick. I mean, is everything going alright with Jane and Judith" she asks.

Rick walks over to the other window and looks out at the cul de sac and tells her, "Everything is alright I guess, she's taking really good care of Judith and Karl which is what I need somebody to do and her brothers make sure that the three of them are safe if I am not there." Michonne wants to tell him what she saw yesterday but, she's still not sure about exactly what she saw. If she mentions it to Rick It will start more problems within the group. So instead she asks, "Is that why you have her living there?" "Because I would have been more than happy to do that for you…if you wanted," she says while looking out the other window.

Rick looks over at her and he can see that her feeling are hurt that he never asked her. He walks over to her window and leans on the opposite window sill, his arms folded, "Michonne I would've love to have you take care of kids. I know this won't come out right either but the fact is that," he pauses for a moment, "You are one my best warrior Chonne. Your fearless, your smart, and you care…a lot about all of us. I just can't afford to have you babysit. Rick looks out the window then back at her again, "When I am out there on a run or when we are all on the road I feel better knowing that you have got my back. I know that I have a better chance of survival if you are there with me. And when you are with me I feel better knowing that I can have your back. You being there for me lets me to be there for you."

He walks closer to Michonne, "It's not that I don't want you to take care of Karl and Judith. I know that if something should happen to me you would look out for them. But I want to stay around for them as long as I can. And I stand a better chance of that with you close by." He tells her.

Michonne looks down at the floor and sighs a little then looks up at Rick and shakes her head, "I get it. But what about you and Jane is that…something?" she asks. Rick walks back over toward the dresser leaving Michonne at the window. "It's not something, it's nothing really. I was just soo grateful that she kept Gareth and Mary away from Judith and the fact that she helped Carol and Tyreese get to us I…I wasn't sure how to repay her. So when she assumed the role of a nannie I just continued to let her do so. There's nothing there." He says. "But does she think that something is there." She asks. Rick looks down at his floor then at his reflection in the cracked dresser mirror, "She wants something more… that I can see, but she is just too young, too innocent she doesn't have any scars. I don't see her in that way. Hell, she's probably a few years younger than Maggie. Jane is just a kid." He tells her.

"Then why not pick Maggie or Sasha or Car…" Michonne stopped speaking because she remembered what happened yesterday. "I need as many soldiers as possible in order to keep everybody safe. Man woman…kid if they know how to fight walkers I want them right there with me to help fight off walkers." Rick says.

Michonne walks over to the dresser and gently places her hand on top of his, "Listen, now is not the time to potentially damage a young girl with false dreams. You need to make up your mind. She is taking care of your children so she has power over you. If something goes wrong between you and her Judith is at stake" She tells him while walking toward the bedroom door.

Rick quickly grabs her arm and turns her back around and passionately kisses her practically picking up where they left off yesterday morning before Karl walked in. Michonne wraps her arms around Rick's neck and runs her fingers through his filthy hair while he moves his hands around her hips and back. He pulls her in close as he takes a step back to lean on the dresser with her tight in his arms. He briefly stops the lip lock with her but keeps no more than a 1/2 an inch between their lips. The only time he wanted to see Michonne weak was for him by him. Rick enjoyed teasing her this way and she liked it…a lot. He began to slowly touch his lips to hers but this time he uses more care and sensitivity in the kiss and less passion. Michonne started to fall hard in to his tender kiss. This was different than yesterday morning. The two were enjoying this kiss just for what it is. Knowing that it was not going to lead to anything more.

Rick stops the kiss to ask softly, "How long will it take for your ribs to heal?" then continuing to kissing her again. Michonne whispers, "Not soon enough". She suddenly stops the kiss and grabs his face and kisses him once more and says, "And even then I don't want to get in to a **_grimy_** session with you so close to everyone. It might…I don't want to set a bad example." Michonne slowly smiles and turns away from him, "I think I get loud when **_we_**happen. I would be freaked out if people could hear us." She chuckles. She walks to the door and puts her hand on the door knob, "I would love to get dirty with Rick but I get the feeling that you may need to iron out some kinks in your house. It wouldn't matter to me if Jane was your wife or if you have five wives, what you and I have can always remain. I don't think this world makes allowances for monogamy any more. But Jane, if she is as young and innocent as you say, there's a good chance that she wants to play house with you. So you need to get your house in order." She tells him while opening the door for him to leave.

Rick is still leaning against the dresser with one arm folded across his chest and his other hand stroking his hairy chin. He knows that Michonne is telling him the truth she has always told him the truth whether he wanted to her it or not. He's been staying away from his house to avoid interacting with Jane. At the same time he has also been missing out on being the father that Karl and Judith deserved.

So Rick gets up off the dresser and walks toward the door, "I will stop by and check up on you…" Michonne interrupts him, "No, I am fine here, Bob and Sasha got me covered. Go and enjoy what you have been fighting so hard for Rick. I will be around." He shakes head and leaves the room.


	10. Chapter 10

Jane was the very convenient girlfriend of Gareth at Terminus. She was anywhere between the age of 22-27 around 5'5 and had naturally deep dark auburn red hair with dark gray eyes. She and her younger brothers James and Jimmy had only been with the Terminus group for a year and a half. Her brothers were barley driving age when the outbreak began.

Early on the Terminus group was managing to survive. There were teams that went out once a week to look for food in different location. However, on occasion the teams were followed back to Terminus by wandering groups that would come in and take all the food, tools, supplies, weapons women and children. Each time the Terminus survivors of the attack would have to pick up the pieces and start again.

During the rebuilding of the refuge times would become very lean. Smaller teams would leave to find food sometimes they would come back many times they didn't. While people waited at Terminus for more food they began to hallucinate and starve.

Mary, Gareth's mother started to speak of how in the animal world when there are periods of starvation and drought animals would consume their young in order to survive. She explained how animals had the ability to leave emotion out of their natural and instinctual need to survive. How the offspring would be unable to survive without their parent. Mother Nature has a way of ensuring the survival of her strongest and she has no need for her weakest. Animals are able to make the natural choice of consuming their offspring so that they can survive through a starvation period and once the animal is able to feed regularly they will reproduce again.

Mary's rationale was logical it made perfect sense to the survivors. But these were also survivors from the old civilized world that has since passed, an old world that would have repulsed at such acts of inhumanity. After a few days had gone by the Terminus survivors were so hungry they began to find Mary's reasoning acceptable. So Mary declared that the youngest survivors should be the first to be sacrificed for the greater good.

This new ideology sent Jane is to a frantic state simply because her brothers were gradually becoming men but were not full grown as of yet and the adult men left in the Terminus group wanted the brothers to fight them that way the adults could avoid the feelings of guilt when it came to killing and eating them.

From the first time Gareth saw Jane he was enamored with her hypnotic gray eyes and pale skin. Once Jane knew her brothers could be next on the menu block she immediately sprang in to action with stroking of Gareth's ego. Within a week she became familiar with conventional and "unconventional" ways of persuading Gareth to do what she wanted. Still Gareth was still very much controlled by his mother. But the only thing that Gareth wanted more than food and water was Jane. And in order to have her he had to keep Mary from killing James and Jimmy.

Still, in many ways Jane along with her brothers managed to benefit from Jane's sexual sacrifices. When the group would run low on food Jane would lure various wanderers to Terminus especially if they had children. After a while Jane became haunted by the actions of Gareth and Mary, their ridiculous need for ritual before sacrificing the young. Afterwards, instead of luring families and strangers to Terminus she began to warn them and insisted that they warn others who may cross their paths.

However, Jane was finally caught trying to help 3 sisters under the age of 12 get away from Terminus. As a punishment Mary insisted that Jane either watch the killing of the 3 sisters or her brothers would take their place. Not wanting her brothers to die she stood watch as the young girls were gagged. Jane closed her eyes during the butchery of the sisters but she could still hear their cries and screams. Jane would never be the same again.

Months later as the Terminus survivors became accustomed to this new way of life, Jane became pregnant with Gareth's baby. She tried to avoid eating as much as possible in hopes of a miscarriage but within 8 weeks it was easy to see from her emaciated body that she was carrying. She had desperately tried to only eat sunflowers seeds and pecans but Mary insisted that she eat meat. So Gareth along with other men and woman would hold her down and making her eat food from the grill.

As the end of her pregnancy grew near there was another shortage of food. Weeks began to go by and still no one was coming to Terminus looking for sanctuary. By the time Jane delivered people were once again starving. But for a little while Jane had experienced something that she had long forgotten happiness. Jane gave birth to a 6 pound baby girl. The survivors of course ate the remnants of the birth but not the baby. The only way for Jane to feed the baby was through breast milk. But breast mild could only be produced if she was able to eat something.

One early morning Gareth decided to babysit. Jane had an extremely hard night with the baby her milk production was weak and was not providing the baby with enough nutrients. The baby cried most nights because of this. One time the cries were so loud it actually attracted some roaming walkers in to Terminus kill three of its original survivors. As you could imagine this was unacceptable to the survivors especially Mary.

Grateful that Gareth would be willing to babysit while she took a nap she would have never guessed that that would be the last time she would hold her baby in her arms again. Hours later when Jane woke up she heard a deafening silence. She got dressed and walked in to the mess hall…


	11. Chapter 11

Rick slowly begins the walk down the block to his house replaying the kiss he had just shared with Michonne. At that moment he started thinking about what she afterwards about enjoying what he has been fighting for all this time. While he's walking down the street he sees Karl running up towards him.

"Hey, Dad", Karl says out of breath, "How's Michonne?" Rick smiles at his son, "She's good, Bob and Sasha are taking good care of her." "Oh, good I was just about to go see her." Karl tells him. "Well, why don't you wait a day or two, she was still groggy from the medicine they had to give her", Rick puts his arm around Karl and they begin to walking back down the block, "So what do you miss this morning?" Rick was starting the game that Michonne and Karl had been playing in the mornings. "Let me go first," Rick anxiously says, "I miss the smell of clean clothes coming out of the dryer", He says grinning while smelling the filthy shirt he had on. "Oh, I got one way better than that Dad", Karl says, "Christmas lights". Rick stops walking and looks down at Karl, "Christmas lights? Not Christmas presents?" "Karl looks down at the ground then back up at his father, "Well, the only thing I remember about Christmas presents was that I always got a bunch of toys", Karl shrugs his shoulder, "Now, it seems like toys are for somebody Judith's age so I suppose I don't really care about them anymore". Karl looks back down the block and sees Jane's brothers about to leave, then he looks back up Rick and grins, "But, I really do miss the Christmas lights though." Rick laughs a little, "Yea, I miss Christmas lights too. I guess you win this round." So father and son continue the walk home.

Rick and Karl reach the front porch "Hey Rick, Karl", James says extending his hand to Rick. Rick shakes James's hand then extends his hand to Jimmy. Jimmy quickly shakes Ricks hand as if they were dirty and puts his back in his pocket. "Hey guys, thanks for staying over last night" Rick tells them. "Not a problem, family should always look out for one another." James says walking past father and son.

Jane hears Rick's voice at the front door and comes out of the kitchen toward him, "Hey, your back! Everything alright up there," She says wrapping her arm around his neck and giving him a peck on the cheek. Still, Rick grimaces at Jane's display of affection, again he slides her arm from around his neck, "Ah, yea everything is good", Rick, tells her.

While Jane is trying to exchange fondness with Rick, Karl walks past their awkward moment in to the kitchen looking over his should as Jane tries to display her affection for Rick in the front doorway. When he reaches the kitchen he looks over his shoulder again and sees his father unwrapping Jane's arm from around his neck, Karl shakes his head and giggles at how fixated she is over his father.

"Look, I think I am going to hang around the house today. So I can put Judith down for a nap. You have been cooped up in this house for a while. I'm going to take a shower then I'll take these kids off your hands for the day." He says while going up the stairs. Jane pauses at the bottom of the stairs momentarily bothered by the idea of Rick and the kids hanging around the house without her. But she recalls some other matters that needed her urgent attention. In fact Jane felt that her business would be much easier without any children around for a while. So she walks back in to the kitchen with Karl and Judith.

Once Rick gets out of the shower and changes in to some clean clothes he hears Jane talking to Judith while coming up the stairs, "O.k., you ready to hang out with your Daddy Judith?" Jane looks at Rick grinning and waving Judith's little hand at him. "I tat, toone!" Judith babbles, Rick smiles from ear to ear when Jane passes Judith to him, "Where's Karl?" he asks. "Oh, he's in his room reading some books I found in a closet. I was going to go up the block to visit Michonne to see if she needs anything, but first I'm going to stop by Abe's and give James and Jimmy a haircut and a shave, they're about to resemble the men from duck dynasty", Jane chuckles. "When I come back I can take care of you and Karl if you like?" "Rick looks away from Judith for a moment and smiles, "Yea sure that work."

Jane walks down stairs in to the kitchen. She walks over to the cabinet where she keeps all the sharp objects. Just before opening the cabinet she looks over her shoulder making sure that no one is standing at the entrance. She moves away from the cabinet for a minute and places both hands on the either side of the stove and closes her eyes in an attempt to contain her fury over Rick wanting her to leave for a while.

She begins to grip the stove hard as though she could leave her hand imprint upon it. Her state is broken by the sound of Rick coming down the stairs. "Oh, I thought you had already gone?" Rick says as he looks down helping Judith walk in to the kitchen. "I was just on my way out the door, I just need to get the scissors and a blade", Jane walks over to the two then leans down to look at Judith, "I will see you later cutie." Jane looks at Rick, "See you later?" Rick nods his head yes.

On her way up the street Jane pass by Bob and Sasha's house she glances up at the windows to see if anyone is watching her. She knocks on the door, "Hi", Jane says. Abe looks her up and down, "Hello, gorgeous. What brings you by this morning? Where's Judith?" "Well, Rick has decided to stay home with the kids so I thought that I would come by and give James and Jimmy a good shave and a haircut. They still can't shave themselves that well just yet. I can shave and cut your hair too if you want? She says gleefully. "Well, it would be the highlight of my day." Abe says happily. "But they have already gone off to search for roaming walkers in fields, and Rosita has gone with Maggie to check on the elderly in the block so I guess you can do me first." Jane looks around the room for a moment, O.k. let me get some hot water, ah which room has the best natural light?' She asks walking toward the kitchen. My room has the biggest window." He yells out. "O.k., I will meet you there in a few minutes." She yells back.

The smell of the once boarded up house tinges her nose as she carefully walks up the stairs with a small pot of hot water. Jane can see how old the walls are by how much build up is on the walls from the past couple of years. Clearly it has been so hot in that house that the buildup had melted on the wall paper.

When she gets up stairs to Abe's room she uses the pot to gradually push the partially open door. As she walks in it smells like musty sex. She looks to the right of her and sees Abe sitting in front of a decaying antique mahogany vanity with a large an oval vanity mirror. Abe had pulled the vanity away from the wall so Jane would have the best day light reflection in the mirror.

She places the pot on the floor not wanting to destroy the vanity any more than it already is, "Let me open the windows some, it smell like…tomato sauce in here." "Tomato sauce, what the hell," Abe laughs loudly, "How do you smell tomato sauce in here, I could go for some spaghetti right now for real." Abe laughs again. Jane walks over to the window furthest from the house to the left then looks out at the street,"When I was little whenever I would walk in to my parent's bedroom after they had sex I always thought it smelled like tomato sauce." Jane walk back over to Abe and grabs the clean rag off his shoulder , puts it in the pot and places the blade in there as well. A few seconds later she pulls the hot rag out of the water. Abe notices how much steam is coming off the rag, "Here let me wring that out for you that is way too hot." With one hand Jane gently holds is chest in place so he doesn't get up.

Jane stands straight up and looks in Abrahams eyes then she removes the rubber band in her hair letting down the dark auburn hair so that it fall down around her neck and shoulders. Abe watches her forgetting that his mouth is wide open, a gnat enters his mouth, "Thuh, thuh", he grunts waving his hands in front of his face.

Let me see how I could do this," she says trying to figure out where to start. She glances down at his pants and sees that he likes the way she let down her hair. She looks back up at his eyes and begins to ring out the hot cloth with her hands.

For Abe in his line of work, he could withstand the heat of that hot rag but her hands turn a heavy pink as she wrung the rag out over the pot. She looks at him again tilting her head right and left, then she decides the easiest way to approach this is by sitting on his lap. So she straddles her legs softly sits down on his lap, then she leans down to grab the blade out of the hot water.

Abe is a little nervous as he looks at Jane holding the blade so he says, "I really wanted to see Judith today, after the mess last night." Jane looks at him like a cat examining its prey, "Oh, what happened last night?" she says while lifting his chin up and back. "Well, they decided that they had to get Michonne drunk enough for Bob and …" Jane interrupts him abruptly and looks at him with those now cold dark gray eyes, "Better yet, what happened to the plan a few days ago? Jimmy tells me that Eugene said something to Glenn and Maggie?" she tells him while gently scraping his throat with the blade. Abe doesn't speak until she is finished with the stroke; he exhales slightly and tells her, "Eugene heard the three us talking the night before we attacked her. I told him to keep his mouth shut but you know how much of an idiot he was. It was just a matter of time before something bad happened to him" he tells her. "It doesn't matter anyway, Eugene is out of the picture now", Jane begins another stroke and he waits again until she finishes, "Michonne is wounded it will be easier next time." He says. Jane continues the shave in silence till she is finished. "Next time," she asks sitting harder on his lap feeling his manhood expand.

Jane's lean back some and pulls her shirt off exposing her breasts. Abe looks down at her breasts and instantly gravitates his head toward them but she stops his action, in the voice to that of a young girl, "I thought you said that you wanted me, that you would do anything to have me again", she wines while grabbing his crotch, "I thought that you would help me then I would help you." "I thought you hated Rick and wanted his family after losing your own", She begins to dry hump Abe causing him to moan a little more.

"I thought you wanted to get him back for making you look like an asshole for believing Eugene was an important scientist." Abe is still speechless he wants Jane so badly, "Don't you want me right?" she whispers in his ear. Abe eagerly shakes his head yes.

She stands up quickly and pulls off her pants, then she unzips his pants and puts Abe in side of her causing him to moan. As she starts to grind Abe with every thrust of her body she says, " Come with me Abe just like last time, what are you going to do for me Abe, What are you going to do for me?" She starts to ride him harder and faster, "Oh my God, I'm gonna kill her", he whispers while putting his hands on Jane's hips.

She slows down the ride because she can see he is about to blow. She pulls his head up out of breast by his hair, gets up and puts her clothes back on leaving Abe with a hard on. "What's…what's going on?" Abe says with a confused look on his face. "Once Michonne is out of the picture we will finish this." She says in a serious tone, "And when that happens, I will get rid of Rick for you." As soon as she dresses she walks over to Abe and licks his lips again and whispers "Get it done."

Daryl took Carol's death as well as the attack on Michonne pretty hard. In order to mourn and collect his emotions he has been staying down at the bottom of the block at Michonne's place for the past couple of weeks or so while she has been staying in his room up the block healing from her injuries.

In fact while Rick and Daryl were working on fortifications for the cul de sac during the day they were discussing that maybe Daryl should live at the end of the block and Michonne stay up there with Bob and Sasha permanently. But the both of them knew that that would be a hard, damn near impossible sell when it comes to her. They could tell that over the past couple of months she has been trying to make herself a little more accessible to the group but she still needed her space, alone time and if she didn't get it she may try and go off on a run by herself like she used to do when she'd say she was going out trying to find the Governor.

Daryl decides to go and get some tools out of the room Michonne was currently occupying up the block. "Knock, Knock, Michonne its Daryl are you descent?" he asks. Michonne opens the door, Yea what's up?" "I just need to get some tools out of the dresser." He tells her. Michonne narrows her eyes a bit out of confusion because she looked through those same dresser drawers' weeks ago and there were couple of shirts and some pants in drawers but no tools. "Sure come on in" she says. Daryl wanders in and heads toward the dresser. "So how are you feeling?" Michonne closes the door getting a sense of where this conversation may be going, "Like I got beat up by a brick wall."

Daryl continues to rummage through the drawers while Michonne sits down on the bed. He stops rummaging and says, "You know that Rick told me about what happened to you a few weeks back. I doubt if anyone outside you, me, Rick and Karl know the details." Michonne gets annoyed and slaps her hands on her leg and then winces from the pain it caused in her ribs and thigh. He turns around slightly and says in a low voice, "You knew he would tell me." He looks back down at the dresser, "You know how the three of us roll," then he suddenly looks at her reflection in the cracked dresser mirror, "We Ride or die, right?" Michonne looks at Daryl's reflection in the mirror closes her eyes and shakes her head agreement.

"I understand why you didn't say anything and I appreciate it, because, I would have lost it fo' sho'". He slams the drawers in to the dresser then pauses before saying, "Look, I don't know what you said to Merle that day he was gonna take you to the Governor…what I do know is that my brother never did the right thing his entire life. In that short period of time you were with him he must have grew some type of scruples", he lets out a big sigh and says, "Look, when Merle let you go that day _with_ your sword he knew you were coming back to the prison. He knew you were better for us than him." Daryl turns around, "So when he sent you back he knew you would be filling his spot to me as kin. You're kin to me now. Now that Carol is gone…" Daryl pauses to keep himself from crying, "…you're kin to us, to me Chonne, and I will put a fucking bullet in the head of anybody that tries to hurt my kin."

Michonne is not too shocked by what Daryl is saying. When they would go out on runs back at the prison, she and Daryl bonded on the level of a brother and sister. They didn't exchange many words when out of runs, but they didn't have to they already knew what type of oath it was. That was also the reason why Daryl kept getting pissed off when she would leave for weeks on end looking for the Governor.

The room goes silent for a moment then she says, "Daryl I know what you're saying, I…I just want to hold on to this refuge as long as we can. Believe me, if I knew exactly who was involved I would've told you and Rick by now. But I don't know. And until I do, I don't want to stir everybody up." She says while getting up off the bed. "We have all been through a whole hell of a lot these past couple of weeks." Michonne walks over to one of the walls and starts doing standup push-ups on it.

Michonne pauses her push-ups and considers telling Daryl about what she saw that fateful morning with Jimmy and James. Daryl is looking down at his shoe trying to hold in his anger, "Look, I saw something that day but…" she begins softly. Daryl interrupts her and says in a burst of anger, "Once I find out the bastards that did this to you…well let's just say I doubt if this tiny survivor neighborhood is going to want me living around here anymore."

Michonne stops again and turns her head to look over at Daryl then walks toward him, "I know you're angry. You and Rick are on the war path. If you find out who the punk bitches are…" Michonne shakes her head and reminisces, "It took three of them to hold me down. That's how I knew they were only coming after me… nobody else." She sighs, "The point that I am making is that…Just try to remember what's at stake…and if the survivors in the block don't want _you_ around anymore…" They grip each other's right wrists like a roman centurion handshake, "…we ride or die".

Daryl starts walking toward the door when Michonne looks at him on his way out and says, "What about the tools?" Daryl opens the door and looks at the door knob, "I must have left them somewhere else." Then he walks out the room.


	12. Chapter 12

Three weeks have past and there has intermittent rain and dreary clouds most of the time with the exception of a hint of sunlight here and there. Every abled body individual has been contributing to the fortifications of the cul de sac. There have been a couple of walkers wandering around the perimeter but for the most part everything and everybody has been very quiet.

The constant overcast in sky appears to be the proper backdrop for the post Terminus group after losing Carol a few weeks ago. Never taking anything away from Tara and Eugene but, Carol had been with Rick, Daryl and Glenn from the very beginning. In some ways the mood of everyone was that of waiting to die instead of the having the desire to live. Not survive …but live.

Rick had been taking Michonne's advice and staying close to home with his kids in the evening. Carl had stopped by Bob's and Sasha's a few times to see Michonne, but Carl was enjoying the company of his father and Judith. He wasn't even as freaked out as he used to be about Jane anymore, especially since his father had started sleeping on the futon in the living room downstairs. On occasion when the sun would peek out during the day, Rick would stop to take a break from the work to walk Judith around the front yard while Jane stood in the door way and watched.

Rick was able to see his people on a regular basis because they were all involved with fortifying the neighborhood. But he had to go to Bob's and Sasha's to see Michonne. When Rick would knock on the door she would tell him to either come back tomorrow or she just wouldn't answer the door at all. The only way Rick knew that she was alright was by asking Sasha or Bob if they had seen her that morning. Even then she would only let Bob or Sasha in her room in the morning. When she would let them come in to check on her they had to bring one day's worth of food because it was most likely she had no plans of coming out of the room unless it was to use the bathroom. Everyone knew "this" Michonne well enough to know that, this was the Michonne that would usually leave for a few days sometimes a week back at the prison.

But this actually wasn't the same thing; Michonne had been watching the day to day activities of the cul de sac from her window while she healed. She didn't like having to rely on people to take care of her…to look after her. During the first three weeks she laid in bed most of the time thinking about the prison group, Andrea, Hershel, Daryl and Karl, Judith and Andre', Mike and Rick. By the fourth week she had started to feel less pain in her ribs so she started a modest workout routine. By week 5 she was working out as though she was training for the Olympics again, 100 pushups here 75 sit-ups there. However, deep inside she knew that something was missing and she was aware that every day that she continued to stay locked away from the world it was going to be that much harder to locate. The night when the three men tried to rape her they took away the one thing that had been keeping her alive all this time.

One day there was a knock at her door first thing in the morning. "Michonne, its Sasha but I am not alone. I'm with Maggie, Rosita and Jane we want to talk to you for 10 minutes and then we will leave." Sasha says in a semi-low voice through the door. Michonne quickly opens the door and walks back over to the window, "So ladies, what's up?" She said in a bothered tone. Rosita closes the door behind her then follows the four women over to where Michonne standing. Sasha looks around at the women hoping that they would speak up but they were always nervous around Michonne.

Michonne stops looking out the window and looks at the four women still feeling bothered by their presence. But she furrows her brow and changes the look on her face when she observes the uneasiness in their faces. She pushes herself off the window sill and says, "What, what is it? Did something happen?" she says with great concern. "No, everything is fine." Maggie says with a jumpy voice. "Michonne we need…" Sasha starts off then she changes her words, "…We really want you to communicate with _us _more. What happened to you last month shouldn't have happened. We get it, you're complicated and you're a badass and you may not like being considered a 'woman' but you are one of us when it comes right down to it." Sasha's tells her pacing the bedroom floor. The room goes silent a little, then Rosita chimes in, "Yea Chonne' I mean, all of us should be able to find some kind of sisterhood especially since we have something that men will never have…a fucking period." All four women burst in to laughter at Rosita comment.

"Seriously, as women before all this happened we were always being hunted by men. There were some civility and laws that provided some security for us. But now it's just …" Sasha says with much regret, "us." Maggie touches Michonne's shoulder, "You know Daddy wouldn't want to see you cut off from the group like this especially cutting yourself off from the females now… that we lost Carol. Believe it or not we are the most prized possession in this group besides Karl and Judith."

Everybody looks at Jane to see if she will say something. "Michonne we get it. You have epitomized yourself as a warrior that is a match for any man or women. But you are still a woman. And just like men have their 'inside jokes' and chuckles we need that too." Jane tells her.

Michonne is surprised and hurt by her own actions, if she came off in an unapproachable manner that the four of them are speaking of. She walks to the middle of the room, "I am sorry if I made you feel like I was….standoffish. That certainly was not my intent. You're right, there is bond that we need amongst us that is a necessity to our..." She pauses momentarily, "…to our living that is vital." "I don't want any of you to be afraid to talk to me." Michonne walks over to the window on the right, "Listen, I promise I will communicate more with all you soon, it's just that…" Michonne looks at the four women then looks back out the window, "… I-I misplaced something and I won't be any use to the group until I find it."

This is something that all four women were relieved to hear. They kept thinking that she was on a level of power that they could never achieve. Her statement let them know that they were just as strong and just as vulnerable as she was.

"I have been working out like a gladiator but the one thing that I can't bring myself to do is leave this room" she says to her shame. Rosita walks over to her and says with empathy in her voice, "Your 'misplaced' item will never be found as long as you hide in this room."

Michonne collects her emotions and walks toward the bedroom door and gently places her hand on the doorknob and opens it, "I'm glad the four of you stopped by, and I will be out soon. 'Sisters', would make allowances for that with no questions asked…if need be."

The women walk out the bedroom, Jane being the last to leave stops by the open the door and quickly hugs Michonne and whispers in her ear, "You can always talk to me, whatever it is." Jane lets go of her slowly looking in her eyes as Maggie, Sasha and Rosita go down the stairs.

Rosita looks behind her because she doesn't hear Jane's footsteps so she turns around and sees Jane whispering something in Michonne's ear. Ever since the group left Terminus she never really cared for Jane. Jane reminded her of the street hustlers and scam artists that she used to keep company with in the old world. Rosita noticed that Jane was always smiling always too cheerful. She knew that anyone that happy all the time was fake and should never be trusted. However, now was not the time to address her issues with Jane, the main focus right now was to get Michonne out of that room and back in to world.

Michonne closed the door then sat back down on the bed and looked at her satchel and her trusted katana. She knew what Rosita said was right; she wasn't going to find what she was missing while remaining in hidden behind these for walls.

Michonne watched everyone leave the house for the day from her window while rubbing her forehead with her fingers. She turned around and began to stare at her satchel and her katana again. With an immediate sense of urgency she quickly walks across the room, puts her boots, grabs her satchel and katana and heads for the door. As she reaches for the door knob she felt a surge of panic and fear so she lets go. "Come Michonne", she whispers to herself, "there's too much at stake. If you don't find it you're as good as dead already." She slowly grabs the doorknob again but this time she opens the door and quickly runs down the stairs and heads for the back door.

Michonne opens the door a little to see if anyone is in the backyard, she sees that the fortifications haven't made it that far up the block and she can easily squeeze through chicken wired fence. She closes her eyes and inhales the moist morning air then she closes the door behind her heading for the open fields beyond the fence.

The next morning Tyreese goes to Michonne's room to bring her some food before everybody leaves for the day. He knocks on the door, "Michonne, can I come in I got something for you to eat while we're gone, Michonne?" Tyreese opens the door and walks in to the room. He looks at the around the empty bedroom then he sees that the bed is made up nice and neat. He leans his head back out in to the hallway, "Bob, Sasha come here quick!" He yells. Bob and Sasha come running up the stairs in a panic. "What's up?" Bob asks. "Look." When Bob and Sasha look around the room they see that Michonne has left. "Where would she go?" Tyreese says. Bob walks around the room and says, "Her bag and sword are gone too." Sasha presses her lips together and shakes her head then she goes back to the hallway and sits down on the top step. "Where do you think she went?" Bob asks the two of them. "Sasha does a quick chuckle then looks back at the two of them, "She went looking for something." "What?" Tyreese asks with a look of confusion on his face. Sasha looks down the stairs and says, "She went looking for her badass."

Sasha stands up and begins walking down the stairs, "Listen let's try and keep this to ourselves for a while. We don't want to upset everyone, especially Carl." "But what if Rick finds out or Daryl", Bob asks. Sasha get to the bottom of the stairs and starts to put on her jacket, "What the hell can we say, she grown would we have been able to stop her if we saw her leave?" Sasha opens the front door motioning the two to come on. "I know she'll be back as soon as she finds it."


	13. Chapter 13

The sun is in the position of late afternoon and Michonne begins to veer off the road a little bit to setup camp. She has been walking for hours she will lose the light in a couple hours and she knows that she has to find some place safe for the night. The sounds of thousands of insects and birds play in unison as she enters the woods. She remembers how she was able to stay alive out here alone. So she begins to hunt for a couple of walkers.

After walking deeper in the woods Michonne makes marks on some of the trees she pass by in order to make it back to the road in the morning. While marking one of the trees with her sword she hears a low hissing sound. Michonne stand completely still for a moment waiting to see if she hears some footsteps, the noise of the woods are louder than the low hissing sound. As the hiss gets closer she notices that the noise is coming from the ground. She looks down and sees a pile of leaves and branches moving but there is no wind. Michonne bends down a little closer to the pile of leaves only to notice that it's a snake slithering underneath. She almost forgot that these woods are littered with snakes.

Michonne stands back up and starts to look at the ground around her. Her attention is so completely obsorbed by the idea that she could get bit a snake instead of walkers that she doesn't see a roaming band of walkers coming up behind her. While slowly backing away from the snake she saw Michonne looks to her left and right and sees two walkers

Before her attack taking out four walkers would have been no trouble at all but, now she is nervous almost to the point of panic. She drops her satchel and pulls out her sword. The sword in her hands feels wrong to her somehow. She feels like her grip to strike down walkers is wrong, her footing feels awkward too.

Michonne decides that maybe it would be better to runaway this time instead of trying to kill them this time. She leans down and quickly grabs her satchel in order to run but another walker begins to lean over her back, just as she is about to stand up and run. She hears the walker hovering over top of her just as the walker is about to fall on her she rolls on the ground away from the walker but she is also face to face with the snake she was originally trying to get away from.

Michonne knows that she can't afford to make any sudden moves because of the snake but the four walkers are closing in and the one walker already on the ground is struggling to get back up. She leans up every so steadily so that she doesn't scare the snake as soon as she backs up she swings her leg at the two walkers closest to her making them fall to the ground One of the fallen walkers grabs her leg so she kicks it in the face cracking its skull in the process. She backs away from the walkers on her hands and feet, feeling the imminent danger right before her she forgets about running away now because there is no time. She manages to get on her feet and instantly unsheathes her sword slicing one of the walkers almost completely in half. Then she swings in the other direction and cuts another one from shoulder to hip.

Michonne starts to backup because now the other three walkers are on their feet again almost within arms-length of grabbing her when suddenly she feel something grab her long dreads preventing her from fight off the walkers in front of her. She starts panicking because she can't seem to release her hair from whatever is holding it.

Out of nowhere Michonne hears low zip thud sound in back of her and head is suddenly free. When she turns around to see what she what was holding her hair she sees Daryl, "Get down!" Michonne ducks down as Daryl shoots another arrow in the head of the walker that is just about to grab her.

After ducking out of Daryl's way she stabs the other two walkers in the head. "Chonne, what the hell are you doing out her?" Daryl says irritated that she would come out her alone. Michonne looks at him then grabs her satchel. Michonne puts her sword away and catches her breath, "I lost something." Daryl can tell by the tone in her voice and the look on her face that she was working something out on her own. So he shakes his head o.k. and walks over to her, Daryl wants to ask her if she is alright but decides against it he knows the last thing she would want to hear is him being overly concerned. "What are you doing out here?" she asks. Daryl walks over to the walkers to retrieve his arrows and says, "Hunting." He grabs all his arrows then turns around and asks, "Does Rick know that you are out here?" She looks at him with slight embarrassment then shrugs and shakes her head, "I don't know, I left this early this morning once everyone was out of the house." He nods another o.k. then he walks over to the hissing sound of the snake Michonne was worried about in the first place, he stomps his foot down on its head, takes his knife and cutes the body of the snake from its head. As he begins to walk back the way Michonne had originally came he swings the lifeless snake body and says, "Come on I got a camp about a half mile away. It'll be getting dark soon especially in these woods.

As Daryl and Michonne walk through the dense woods Daryl slows down and motions his hand to her to keep quiet. Then he points to the buck 12 yards away. Daryl readies his bow and shoots the buck in the base of his neck causing it to run off. "Shit! Come on he's wounded we should be able to track him."

They follow a trail of bright red blood on the ground, "He's bleeding pretty bad it shouldn't be too much further it looks like he's heading in the direction of my camp. As they get closer to his mini-camp Michonne sees that the road is not that far away. One of the trucks from the cul de sac is parked slightly off the road blocking the light coming from the Daryl's enclosed campfire. Michonne follows behind him as he turns to the left of the camp because that is where the trail of blood is going. Daryl starts walking lower and quieter in case they find the buck he asks her, "So what makes you think you will find what you lost out here?" "I don't know, I only know that I wasn't going to find in that room." Daryl turns around and motions to her, "Look." Michonne looks a little ways past Daryl and she can see the buck that he shot early laid on the ground dead. They both smile at one another, "And it's close to the truck" he says like it's icing on the cake. "Yea but how the hell are we gonna get that thing in the back of the truck?" She says. "We are gonna use that light-saber of yours and cut the som-bitch up." Michonne has a look of disgust on her face because she knows that it won't be easy and it will probably stink like hell". She sucks her teeth bit says with a smile, "Alright." He can see that she not to excited at the idea of cutting the buck up so he says, "Look at it this way, you may find what you lost in deer."

Michonne and Daryl cut buck up in three large pieces and place the pieces in the truck after a while they sit around the small campfire that Daryl kept going while out hunting. He picks up a couple more pieces of dry rotted branches to make the fire larger so Michonne and get some warmth out of it too. Daryl pulls the dead snake out of his back and starts to skin it. Michonne watches him as he pulls the skin away from the muscle of the snake. She turns her lips down as she hates the site of shedded snake skin and she wasn't crazy about dead snake skin either. Daryl looks over at her, "What? This is to gross for you?" Daryl chuckles, "Well you ain't got to eat to eat then." He says grinning. "Oh know the process is disgusting but I will definitely eat whatever you put in front of me cause I am starving", she laughs.

The woods are still the only noise is the crackling of the campfire and some howling wolves in the distance. Daryl and Michonne eat the snake meat in silence. He reaches in his bag and pulls out two bottles of water, he does a short whistle in her direction and throws one of the waters to her. Michonne looks up and catches the bottle with one hand and puts it down next to her. The two continue to eat.

When Michonne finishes eating she looks over at Daryl, "Listen, I want to tell you something and I don't want you to read anything in to it for the moment. Just listen. That morning that Carol died…I think I saw something but I can't say for certain yet. When everybody started moving in to the fields I was watching James, Jimmy and Eugene moving out in to the field too", She takes a deep breath and continues, "The grass was really high so it was really hard to keep the binoculars in focus but, I think saw Jimmy swing his axe at Eugene's leg causing him to fall to the ground that maybe why walkers got him. But what was even stranger was that Tara came running up to Jimmy and started yelling at him. All this was happening in the middle of trying to kills walkers mind you, then, I was trying to zoom out so I could get a larger view of what was happening and then Tara disappeared. Like she was never there, the only thing I saw after that was James and Jimmy killing the walkers in the field."

Daryl remains silent for a minute, "I never really cared for James and Jimmy too much, but I never tried to get to know them either. They just happened to luck out because their sister begged us to rescue them before we escaped Terminus", he says while covering up some of the campfire coals to dim the light for it a bit. "What do you think about Jane?" She asks. "I don't. She takes care of Judith while Rick takes care of the group. I mean she has a job in the group that seems to work right now. What do you see?" He asks. "I can't say I see anything either. What makes it worse…I mean you can see that Jimmy is quiet maybe even a little off. James seems to be normal enough but I don't understand how Jane can be so cheerfully all the time. So far we have yet to see any side of her other than the one." She says. "Could be she feels really blessed to have made out of Terminus with her two younger brothers, maybe she is glad that she still has some of her family still intact." Michonne looks over at Daryl as he stands up to kick some more dirt on the edges of the campfire, "Close your eyes." He tells her so she doesn't get any flying dirt in her eye.

We better get some sleep I am supposed to meet a couple of people from the cul de sac over at a rest stop on route 85 tomorrow. Its bout 25-30 miles east so we can do some scavenging once we get there.


	14. Chapter 14

Tyreese stops Bob and Sasha on the way down the block, "Look, we can't continue to leave each other out of the loop like this. I will let Rick know that Michonne must have left sometime yesterday."

"No Ty,…" Sasha says while putting her hand on Tyreese's shoulder, "I'll tell him."

As they get down to the bottom of the block Sasha sees Rick talking with Tero, an old black man that had been living in the block long before the outbreak. Rick was listening to him closely because Tero was retired from the army corp of engineers. They were pointing down at the cracks in the ground were they were putting heavy pieces of spiked wood in the ground to slow up walkers if they tried to enter.

"What going on?" Sasha asks in an interested tone. "Hey Sasha, Tero was telling me all this rain is saturating the ground beneath the asphalt. That's why our fortifications keep slipping out of place." Rick says.

"Rick, I need to talk to you a minute", Sasha says.

Rick and Sasha move over toward a clean barrel of water. Rick dips his hands in to the water barrel and throws some water on his face, "So what's up, Chonne alright?"

Sasha takes a deep breath and says, "Rick…she left." He stops wiping the excess water off his clean shaven face. He leans in closer as if he was heard of hearing,

"What do you mean she left?" "Tyreese went in the room this morning just like we always do, to give her some food for the day while we are gone and, when he went in to the room she was gone. Her sword was gone and her bag." Sasha tells him.

Rick walks away from Sasha a little bit trying to take in the news about Michonne leaving without so much as a warning. He closes his eyes while gently rubbing his eye brows. "How long has she been gone, who saw her last?" He asks with reserve in his voice.

"The last time I saw her was yesterday morning; me, Maggie, Jane and Rosita went to talk to her yesterday about what happened and how she needs to communicate with us more." Sasha explains.

Rick looks at Sasha wanting her to continue, "What else did she say?"

Sasha goes on to say, "She said that she was feeling better and that she has been working out like crazy in the room, but how she couldn't bring herself to leave it yet. She said that she wouldn't be any good to the group unless she was able to find something that was misplaced last month."

Rick recalls the conversation they had when he found out what happened to her. About regaining or repairing what she lost.

"Rick, we wouldn't have been able to stop her even if we did see her leave." Sasha says walking over to him putting her hand on his shoulder.

He knew Sasha was right they couldn't stop her if she wanted to go, he probably couldn't either. He wanted to go after her but she has a 24 hour head start, and he has no idea what direction she went in.

"Rick, once she finds it she will be back." She says reassuringly.

But Rick knew he would be able to concentrate on anything knowing she was out there alone.

Rick turns around to Sasha, "I can't stay here I have to try and find her, Where's Daryl?" He asks anxiously.

"He left yesterday afternoon to go hunting." Sasha says with confusion.

"Rick, you have no idea which way she went you'll get end up getting lost yourself." She says trying to get him to listen to reason.

"No I won't, there's a run that's happening today right?" He asks. Rick walks over to the group of workers, "Who is supposed to meet up with Daryl later today," He asks,

"Me, I'm supposed to go meet up with him at some old rest stop on inner state 85 right outside the tourist town. It's about 15-20 miles out. Glenn was supposed to be going with me" Tero tells him.

"Alright, I'll go with you instead of Glenn", he says walking over to Glenn. Glenn looks confused so Rick waves him over as he walks quickly over toward Tyreese.

Glenn does a light jog over to the two men, "What's going on?" Rick looks at Glenn and Tyreese.

"Look, I am gonna go on this run, I want you and Tyreese to look out for the group, we don't want another incident like the one that happened last month with Chonne. Glenn, I want you and Maggie to keep Carl and Judith over your place until I get back."

"What about Jane?" Glenn asks, "She can stay with her brothers over at Abe's. Ty, keep an eye on everybody because we are coming up short on fighters, so be vigilant." Rick tells the two.

"Tero, how long before we can leave," Rick says walking over to him, "Well we can leave right now the truck is ready to go." Tero tells him. Rick starts to run back up to his house to talk to Carl but yells out, "I will meet you there in 15 I need to grab some stuff." Rick opens the front door and immediately runs upstairs to the bedroom closet.

Carl hears the front door swing wide open then he hears his father upstairs in the bedroom closet. Carl rushes from the kitchen upstairs to the bedroom closet. "Dad what's wrong what's going?"

Rick continues looking through closet without saying anything because he is apprehensive about how to tell Carl or if he should tell him that Michonne left the cul de sac.

"Dad what's wrong?!" Carl asks again but this time in an angry tone.

Rick grabs the machine gun and two full clips. He connects the machine to the gun strap and wraps it around his shoulder. Then he walks out and opens the dresser draw and pulls out his gun belt and his sheriff's pistol.

"Dad", Carl repeats.

He stops what he is doing and looks down at Carl, "Carl…Michonne left she didn't tell anyone where or why she just left. But look, I just found out and I am gonna go with Tero to find her. I will find her and I will try and bring her back, alright?" Rick goes back to strapping his gun belt on and checking his revolver making sure it's loaded then his slides it in to his holster.

"Dad...you promise you'll bring her back right?" Carl asks.

Rick puts his hand on Carl shoulder, "I'm going to do everything in my power to bring her back Carl I promise you that. Now, I want you and Judith to stay with Glenn and Maggie until I get back."

Jane come up stairs with Judith in her arms, "What's wrong, what going on?"

Rick walks back in to the closet to get his jacket then comes back out, "Michonne is gone; I'm going to look for her." He says in hurry, "Carl and Judith are going to stay with Glenn and Maggie I want you to stay with your brothers over Abe's house.

"But we can stay here; I will have my brothers' stay with us like before." Jane tells him as he rushes past her,

"I was up the block when they did that. I don't want another incident like what happened with Michonne, now please pack up some stuff Judith Maggie will be here any minute." Rick says while going back down stairs.

Rick opens the door just as Maggie is about to knock. "Rick what's wrong?" she asks,

"Michonne is gone I'm going to try and find her", he says moving past her in a rush. He turns back around, "I want you Glenn to keep Carl and Judith at your place until I get back. Tyreese is gonna watch out for the group. If problems come up let him know." Rick turns back around and runs down to Tero's SUV.

Rick and Tero are riding down the road toward the inner state 85 in silence. Rick is being a bit fidgety he keeps adjusting the gun strap on his shoulder and he keeps closing his eyes and rubbing his forehead. Tero is feeling a little uneasy because of Rick's jumpiness, "I hope Daryl was able to get something I really go for some venison."

Rick nods his head at the same time ignoring what Tero just said. As they ride along road Rick sees some walkers on the side of the road in the distance, "Hey slow down a little" he tells Tero while trying to get a good look at some of the walkers. He doesn't see her, "Alright keep going."

"Say, Rick where is that stunning samurai been at? I haven't seen her since last month sometime." Tero asks casually.

She hasn't been feeling well past few weeks." Rick says in a bothersome tone.

"Oh, that's too bad, such a pretty girl and an excellent fighter with or without the sword." He says with a smile on his face that looks somewhat mischievous to Rick.

Rick starts to move his hand slightly toward his knife thinking that Tero might have something to do with Michonne's attack. "Why do you ask? You like her or something?" he asks curiously.

Just when Rick is about to pull the knife out Tero says, "Yea…well I mean not like that. She reminds me of my wife. See my wife, Sheila, she was a fighter too. I met my wife in the service back during the Vietnam War. Sheila was tough like a..."

Rick says, "Michonne?"

"Yea Michonne. My Shelia was just like her. Once everything started going to hell Shelia was right there to have my back. She was good with gun; well she was good with anything that could be used as a weapon actually. I had her back and she had mine. Sheila was always the constant soldier but she always made room to let me be a man and she let me be her man." Tero says while reminiscing.

Rick slides the knife back down in to the holster looks over at him and with interest asks, "What happened to her?"

Tero huffs, "A few weeks before your group came to our block, she got killed by four of those things while on patrol one evening. The neighborhood heard gunfire but by the time we got to her she was already…"Tero gets choked up briefly, "…one them had bit her on the neck but she managed to put a bullet in the head of all four of those bastards. After she died I lost it for a little while then, I remebered something she told me a few nights before she died she said, 'I am not afraid of dieing. We were born to die, my biggest fear is that I sweated the small stuff too much instead of enjoying my time here you.' That was my girl, hardest women I ever met. But I guess I was lucky to have her around as long as I did given our situation." Tero laughs, "Neither one of us never knew which day would be our last so every time we…well you know it was extraordinary. You never know how much you care about someone until something threatens to take them away."

Rick was listening closely to what Tero was saying. He started to feel emptiness in his stomach. "But I am sure you already know what I am talking about, right? I mean you have managed to keep your family together your wife your kids even those two older boys, who they your brothers in laws? Tero asks.

"Well actually no, she not my wife she's more of a nannie you could say." Rick says looking out the window as he looks at the sign for inner state 85.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to pry in to your business." Rick shakes his head in appreciation for the fact that Tero recognized he was being nosey. "Anyhow, that was why I was asking about Michonne." Tero takes a deep breath, "Any guy that could have a woman that strong and beautiful by his side would be pretty damn lucky."

Rick starts to think about him and Michonne back at Elysium and wondered if that was the reason it was so intense when he and Michonne are alone together. Neither one of them knew for certain if it would be the last time they would see each other. Anytime they're alone he is automatically drawn to her, always wanting to kiss her or touch her in anyway, there was always that sense of urgency with Rick when it came to being intimate with her.


	15. Chapter 15: Lost and Found

Chapter 15: Lost and Found

The next morning Daryl is awakened by light specks of rain falling through the trees in the dense woods. He gets up; walks over to the road to get a better view of the inner state skyline. He's gotten used to the gloomy everyday overcast but this time he can see in the distance a serious weather disturbance. As a result he runs back to the small camp where he and Michonne spent the night. "Michonne… Chonne, wake up we gotta go, there's one hell of a rain storm coming and we need to make to the rest stop so we'll have some shelter." He tells her while packing up camp.

As Michonne wakes up she feels the fat rain drops falling on face and shoulders from in between the trees and she sees how the blowing wind disturbs the dead leaves and twigs on the ground. In the distance she looks deeper in to the woods and she sees a couple of walkers trying to walk against the blowing wind from the impending storm.

They finally pile all the camping equipment in to the back of the pickup truck with the deer remains then; they urgently cover the flatbed with tarp and tie it down. Daryl looks at the empty inner state road behind them, in the distance he sees lightening coming from the dark clouds as they start to run into each other over the woods and the inner state skyline.

"Come on we gotta move now if we wanna out run this storm." Daryl says opening the driver side door.

Michonne opens the passenger side but before she gets in she can also see the coming storm and lighten as well. She was used to the overcast skies and the rain that has been hovering over the cul de sac for weeks now. But this storm felt different, she knew this was the day that she was either going to find what she has been looking for or confirm that it was lost good."I hope there are no twisters in that thing", she yells over the growing howling winds. He starts the engine as she climbs in the truck.

Daryl zooms along I-85 with little ease from the weighty storms winds while Michonne watches the storm clouds gaining on them in her side view mirror. They pass by towering trees bending from the gusty storm winds, leaves and small dead branches fly along either side of I-85. He continues to keep a close eye on the inevitable storm through the review mirror, he stops watching the road and mirror to glance at Michonne then looks out at the road, "So," he pauses, "Whatcha' looking for out here?" he asks.

She continues to look out of her window in silence mainly because she really couldn't give him an answer so she says, "I lost something last month. I can't go back to the group until I find it."

Daryl waits in silence for a few minutes, "What if you don't find 'it' anytime soon." he asks glancing at her and watching road up ahead.

She looks at Daryl then back swirling leaves and dead tree debris in the her side mirror, "I'll just have to keep looking until I do." She answers him solemnly.

The sound of tiny bits of hail start to hit the hood of the truck and light drizzle begins to speckle the front and side windows when they see a sign, "Narrow Bridge Ahead". Just as Daryl begins driving across the narrow bridge the dark clouds are right on them removing all daylight from the sky and the inner state altogether, the storm they so desperately tried to out run was here and showed no signs of yielding.

As the commencement of the storm begins sheets of rain pour upon the truck, Daryl turns on the headlights and initiates more speed as he tries to get across the narrow bridge as fast as possible. Michonne sit ups in the seat and tries to look out the front window through the rapidly moving window wipers when he suddenly slows down then stops abruptly causing the truck to slide a little.

Both of them stare through the pouring rain as the headlights illuminates the bridge some yards ahead; they see the leg shadows of a small herd now alerted to their presence on the little bridge. The end of the bridge couldn't be any more than 30 yards away; any other time this size herd wouldn't worry Daryl while with Michonne but, he's concerned that she may not be ready for this type combat just yet.

"I'm backing up, we will find another way to get to the rest stop" he says getting ready to shift the truck in reverse.

Michonne sees the small herd of walkers as they take notice of them in the truck; she already knows that going backwards on the narrow bridge would be a big mistake. More importantly, she knew this was where she needed to look in order to find what she lost.

Realizing what is about to take place she does a small laugh and rips one of her sleeve off and ties her dreadlocks up on her head ensuring that "no-thing" grabs her hair like it did the day before.

The moment Daryl touches the stick shift to put the truck in reverse she grabs his hand and shakes her head and says, "No," she closes her eyes for two seconds and takes a deep breath, "What I am looking for is at the end of this bridge."

Daryl watches through the headlights as the legs of the walkers get closer and closer to the truck. He turns to Michonne then shrugs his shoulders with a smile, "Fuck it, this is as good a day as any to die."

Michonne jumps out the truck and unsheathes her trusted friend and begins to cut down walkers in the thunder and pouring rain. She either decapitates them or cuts them in half by their torsos. As her and Daryl decimate the walkers on the narrow bridge; Michonne feels the adrenaline rushing through her body and the familiar weight and movement of her katana in her hands, the memory of her sword skills come pouring back. She feels no reservation like she did when Daryl saved her the day before; there was no more flight in her only fight.

After they slaughter the troublesome walkers in the pouring rain they start to move their bodies out the way so the truck can get through. Daryl begins to walk over to the truck and just as he opens the door he sees Michonne standing on the bridge with her head tilt back, letting the rain wash away all the blood, guts, fear and doubt from her body.

When she finally stops to look at the pile of walkers on either side of the bridge she chiburi's her sword and puts it away. Daryl smiles to himself knowing that she found what she lost last month when she was attacked but, it also made him at ease knowing that he was there to help her find it.

Daryl and Michonne ride in silence as they exit the narrow bridge in the heavy rain. After 10 miles they see the sign for the rest stop, _"Suwanee Rest Stop 12 miles"_ right underneath it says, _"Suwanee Trucker Central Lost and Found." _

As they ride past the sign for the rest stop the heavy rains slowly turn to moderate as the storm moves further up the road and some of the darkness in the sky is lifted, "Should we check out that lost and found once we get?" Daryl asks.

Michonne watches as they pass by the saturated woods on the side of I-85, "No," she looks over at Daryl and with content in her tone says, "It was never lost, I just forgot where I put it."

Daryl nods in agreement and they both go back to watching the road in comfortable silence.

Daryl and Michonne finally arrive at the rest stop; it's situated in the middle of the inner state so that you're able to enter and exit from the north or the south. They decide to enter from south which appears to lead to the rear of an abandon motel that was once useful to truckers when they needed to get some sleep after being on the road for hours.

They see a couple of large rigs without the tractor trailers attached. Now that there is some daylight available Daryl turns off the headlights. He slowly creeps along the driveway trying not to disturb anyone or any-things. He decides to park the truck in the middle of the back driveway instead of the parking lot in case they need to make a quick get away; in any case if there are too many walkers coming at them he knows they can still out run them when it comes to getting back in to the truck to drive off.

"Should we go check the joint out, see if there's anything good here while we wait?" He asks, Michonne.

"Yea, why not it's better than sitting around doing nothing." She answers back. So they get out the truck and pull out a couple of bags from the flatbed.

* * *

After Tero got the hint about asking Rick about his business he decided to tell him about the issues with the fortifications in the cul de sac. For the past 25 years the state was supposed to come and install a drainage system so rain water wouldn't continue to wash away the concrete and soil beneath the block but it never happened. "It's possible to create a rudimentary drainage system so the rain water wouldn't sit at the bottom of the block." Tero tells Rick as they ride along the inner state to the rest stop.

Rick half listens to what Tero is saying about the drainage system but he isn't really paying any attention to the solution to the constant slipping of the fortifications of the. All Rick is concerned about at this moment is where Michonne went and why would she leave without telling him.

In Rick's mind; he refused to take responsibility for her leaving because every time he went to see how she was doing she refused to let him in or she just would answer the door at all. Whenever he thought about her refusal to let him in he would get angry. However the minute he would get angry he would suddenly remember that she was gone.

These endless thoughts seem to plague him; giving him great anxiety.

"…so do you think your people would be willing to help? Rick? Are you even listening?" Tero asks.

"Huh?" Rick says while snapping out of his overwhelming thoughts about Michonne. He fakes it, "Oh I'm sorry. I'm checking out that storm, we seem to be heading toward" he says while pointing at the front window.

"Yea I see it too. The stop isn't too much further we should make to the stop before it gets to us." Tero reassures him.

Once they reach the rest stop they pull in to the parking lot of a rundown diner that's attached to the trucker motel. A few yards across from the motel were a couple of abandoned strip clubs and taverns. Right next to that was a large gas station with a sign flapping in the wind that says, "No Gas".

Before they get out the SUV they grab their guns from the back seat. Once they're out, Tero goes around to the back; opens the hatch door and hands Rick a machete while he takes a blade tipped baton. As the two men begin to clear they walk over to the window of the diner to see if there are any walkers roaming around inside.

Tero looks at Rick signaling him to get ready because he gonna tap on the window. Rick nods his head yes. When no walkers come to the window Rick says, "We can do a sweep later, let's check out that gas station."

When they get to the gas station they see that entrance door is broken and the shelves are pretty much empty. Tero goes over to the pumps to see if anything comes out. "Nothing." He says.

"What a second?" Tero goes back inside the gas station store and looks for the emergency shut off valve. He sees that the valve has been turn off. He looks over at Rick, "Oh man, the valve has been shut off all this time. Maybe the Gods will take pity and allow some gas to come out by turning it back on."

Rick smiles at Tero, "Well they haven't been taking too much pity on us so far. Maybe they aren't looking right now."

Tero turn the valve to the on position and they hear a loud clunk. Rick walks over to one of the pumps, squeezes the nozzle and a small trickle of gas starts to come out and then it stops. Suddenly gas shoots out the nozzle causing Rick to drop it from the sudden pressure.

He laughs out loud, "Maybe they have taken pity on us."

Tero smiles, "I'll take whatever hand they can give me." Tero begins to walk out of the gas station store when he sees a carton of generic cigarettes. "I gave them up years ago for my health, I guess it doesn't make a bit of difference now," he says under his breath. So he rummages through the back counter for some matches then grabs the carton of smokes.

The storm clouds are moving in closer to the rest stop so both men walk back over to the motel entrance and sit on the benches underneath the awning of the motel front entrance. The two start to talk about the old world the things they used to complain about back then, paying taxes, the wars over oil, the last football game they saw. Then the two go silent.

As the rain starts to fall Rick stumbles right back in to worrying about Michonne and whether or not she back at the cul de sac or if she is somewhere exposed to the current down pour that they were in.

Rick starts to get angry and anxious again. Tero sees his demeanor change and looks at Rick while taking a puff on his cigarette, "What wrong man, this has been a good day so far. Don't complain the Gods don't like that."Tero says with a small chuckle.

Rick looks over at him then he stands up. Rick was never one to unload his problems on a complete stranger but he considered the fact that he was able to share the memories of his with Sheila so he says with a heavy sigh, "It's Michonne, she left sometime yesterday and I want Daryl to hurry up and come back so we can find her."

"Well, which way did she go…" Tero continues to sit but leans in on his knees, "…do you know?"

Rick in an exasperated voice says, "No, I don't know and every second that we waist here her trail gets cold, damn it!" Tero looks at Rick with one squinted eye then he smiles and shakes his head and says, "Oh…I see."

"See what?" Rick questions annoyed by his presumption.

Tero leans back against the bench; shrugs his shoulders and with closed mouth grin says, "Nothing."

Rick doesn't like the patronizing look that Tero is giving him. He shakes his head at Tero, "It's…complicated."

Tero holds his hands up as if to say it's not his business. Rick rolls his eyes and begins to pace out in the parking lot as the rain starts to settle in.

The storm is releasing volumes of rain down over the entire rest stop. Rick can't keep still, he sits on the bench opposite Tero's then he walks out in to the parking lot hoping to see Daryl coming down the road.

Tero has fallen asleep on the bench as it rains then he wakes up due to the crackle of thunder. When Tero jumps from the sound of thunder he sees Rick standing in the rain looking for Daryl. He shakes his head and laughs to himself. "Rick, what are you doing don't you know that you never find what you want if you keep looking for it?" Rick ignores Tero's comment.

Tero pulls another smoke out of the carton lights it, "I always found civilians use of the word 'complicated' fascinating. In the core complicated held more meaning. Complicated is figuring out how to avoid snipers or move pass enemy lines without being detected. Or how to stop the bleeding of a gunshot wound. But civilians make up complications. Now you say that the woman in the block is simply a nannie nothing more and yet your only concern at this moment is 'Where's Daryl', so the two of you can go out and find Michonne?"

Rick says, "Yea she's a vital member of our group we'll be weakened without her." He yells back. Tero keeps silent for a while seeing that Rick is almost in a state of panic.

The rain begins to slow down to a light drizzle. Rick comes back under the awning and sits down he's soaking wet and flustered to say the least. Tero sees that Rick is attempting to get a grip on his composure so now he feels that maybe Rick will hear what he has to say this time, "Listen, I don't pretend to know your relationship with Michonne, but what I can say is that you just spent most of you time at this rest stop pacing back and forth waiting in the rain for Daryl to get here so the two of you can go and find someone that you have absolutely no idea what direction they went in…the way I see it there is nothing complicated about how you feel about Michonne…I am just saying." Tero laughs.

Rick looks at Tero hard then stands up in a huff, "Look I'm gonna check around back maybe he came in through the other entrance." Rick leaves Tero there in the front of the motel in order to calm down but, Rick is mainly upset because he knows that Tero's right.

Just before Rick reaches the back of the motel he sees Daryl coming around the corner with a bag on his should and his crossbow. "Daryl! Where the hell have you been man?" Rick yells at him. He runs up to him, "I have been waiting on you for hours."

Daryl jerks his head back, "What's wrong?" he asks.

Rick places his hand on his mouth trying to calm his sense of urgency, "Michonne left sometime yesterday, I've been waiting for you to get here so we can go find her."

Daryl looks at Rick feeling a little embarrassed and also a little bit jealous because he can tell that Ricks nose is wide open over Michonne. He shakes his head and looks down at his crossbow, "No, Rick she good. She's alright." Rick looks at Daryl confused.

So Daryl walks him back around the corner. When Rick turns the corner with Daryl he sees Michonne chiburing her sword from two straggling walkers she just killed.

Michonne looks behind her then, while putting her sword away she yells, "A Daryl we should clear the top floor…" she looks up and sees Rick standing next Daryl; breathes a sigh of relief and starts smiling ear to ear.


	16. Chapter 16: Reservations

Jane closes the door as Maggie and Carl walk away from the house. Although Carl has gotten used to the routine with Jane he was never truly invested in her; he went along with the situation because this is what his father wants. However, Carl thinks it would be good for Judith to interact with other members in group besides Jane.

As Carl walks along side Maggie holding Judith, he notices how happy Maggie is helping Judith walk up the block. Most of the time Maggie was busy fortifying the block, killing walkers or up under Glenn. So babysitting would be a nice change in her day to day activities.

"How long do you think my Dad will be gone?" Carl asked Maggie.

"One or two days…maybe", she responded while picking Judith to carry her the rest of the way.

Carl adjusts the bag he's carrying on his shoulders, "Why do you think Michonne left like that?"

Maggie knows that Carl and Michonne are very close. She also knows that Carl was still a kid and that he may not understand Michonne's reason for leaving so suddenly. She stops walking and glances over at Carl, "People deal with traumatic events in many different ways. I think that she had to..." she switches Judith from one arm to another, "…she had to clear her head. Maybe the only way for her to do that was to leave for a little while."

She gave him a warm smile, "But I promise you she'll be back and she'll be o.k."

The three continue walking up the block, "This'll be nice, like a slumber party", Maggie says cheerfully to Judith..

Carl looks over at the two girls then he smiles with a slight repulsion and says, "Girls."

* * *

Jane walks in to the kitchen upset that once again Michonne managed to steal her family away. She also knew that Michonne managed to get out of that room, which meant that she was getting her strength back physically and emotionally. However, Jane knew that Michonne was actually more sensitive than what everyone believed.

Walking in to the kitchen toward the cabinet where she keeps her blades. Jane closes her eyes and places her hand on the cabinet door with reluctance. Slowly, she began to open the cabinet door and grips the sharp part of one of the blades. As her grip around the blade got tighter blood begins to trickle down her arm. She watches the blood as it rolls down her arm and on to the floor.

Jane's brought out of her trance by a knock at the door; quickly she grabs a dish rag and wraps her hand and makes her way toward the door shaking her head back in to reality, when she opens the door she sees Jimmy.

"I-I'm here to help you back some stuff and bring you up the block", he looks down at his feet then up at Jane and her wrapped hand.

"Come on in", she tells him walking toward the stairs.

A little while later Jane comes back down with a couple of bags, her hand now properly bandaged she looks over at Jimmy sitting on the futon nervous.

"What's wrong Jimmy", she asks.

He looks over at her nervously, "Jane, I am really sorry about what I did at Terminus…" he pauses then he gets up and walks over and grabs both bags, "I don't think I can keep plotting to get rid of her. These are good people, I don't want us to end us out there on our own again." He says looking out the living room window.

Jane always knew that Jimmy was weak but she detected guilt and regret in his voice.

"Jimmy there's nothing that I wouldn't do to keep you and James safe." She walks over to the front door, "I would've thought that after what the two of you did and what I did to keep the two of you safe at Terminus your undying loyalty wouldn't waver whenever I asked you for your help. Once we get rid of her we will have a family unit. Rick will make sure to keep all of us safe."

She walks over to Jimmy, "I have always had our best interests in mind when it comes to living in this horror. You need to trust me and do what I ask when I ask, o.k.?"

Jimmy looks at the coldness in her face and begins to walk out the door, "You do forgive us right Sis?" he asks with watery eyes.

She walks over to her younger brother, and hugs him. While hugging him she whispers in his ear, "Someday I will…but not today."

When Jane releases Jimmy he looks at her confused. In his mind the mistake that he and his brother made was truly an honest mistake. His sister shouldn't continue to hold this horrendous mistake over their heads. But he already knew that he wasn't that clever, he always listened to her and James because of it. Nevertheless something in him knew trying to get rid of Michonne was wrong.

* * *

Jane and Jimmy walk up the block in silence, once they reach the house Abe opens the door, "Hi, I hear you are going to be staying with us awhile under the orders of Sheriff Rick Grimes." Abe says sarcastically while eyeing her up and down.

Jane puts on her most seductive look, "Well Abe," she says while walking past Jimmy, "I know that my staying here is probably an incredible inconvenience."

She walks in and over to Abe holding the door open for them, "I am sure you will make use of my time." Jane walks further in and looks around, "So where will I be staying?"

She looks up the stairs and sees at Rosita staring at her.

"Oh, well it took a little maneuvering but arrangements were made so you can sleep in my room." Abe says making sure to put emphases on his room.

Jane looks back at Rosita at the top of the stairs then she does a tiny smile of victory, "Thank you."

Rosita walks down the stairs staring at Jane. When Rosita gets to the last step she looks over at Abe hurt at the fact that he considers Jane more valuable than her, then she walks out the front door past Jimmy.

* * *

Once Jane get in to Abe's room she sits down on the bed momentarily. Abe walks in and shuts the door; she gets up from the bed and starts to go through her bags.

"I've been dying to get you back in to my room. I just hope that you wanna be here as much as I want you here." Abe tells her as he stands over her pretending to look for something.

Jane starts to feel a queasy in her stomach, she begins to feel slightly light headed; she quickly stands up and runs out the bedroom in to the bathroom and violently vomits in to the toilet.

In the mists of vomiting she realizes that she hasn't seen her period in a while. She hasn't seen it since before her persuasion of Abe a month earlier. Looking in to the mirror with her eyes blood shot; she sees herself in the mirror she starts to smile realizing that she's found a way to get rid of Michonne once and for all.


	17. Chapter 17: Promises

Rick stares at Michonne in disbelief that she's been safe with Daryl for the past 24 hrs. He closes then pinches the corner of his eyes and shakes his head, "How did you find her," he gritted.

"She fell down in the woods while trying to get away from a few walkers," Daryl said in a low voice as Michonne begins to walk toward them.

With apparent doubt in his voice Rick says, "Get away from…"

Daryl interrupts him as she gets closer, "Yea, I'll tell you about it later."

Rick gives Michonne a stern gaze then walks over to meet her.

Daryl could tell by the touchiness in Rick's voice that he's pretty pissed off so he continues around the corner. While reloading his crossbow he looks up and sees somebody walking toward him so he readies his weapon and looks through the scope.

He suddenly lowers the bow a little, "Tero, what the hell are they doing let you out of the retirement home", he jokes.

"Babysitting you minors," Tero mocks back.

The two embrace like old war vets. Daryl had spent time with Tero on night patrols of the cul de sac from time to time smoking weed and swaping war stories, Tero's Vietnam stories and Daryl's stories about the outbreak.

Tero looks around the corner and sees Rick and Michonne having what looks like a heated discussion. He turns to Daryl, "Why do you kids make simple shit so complicated", he says while strolling back over to the parking lot, "Ya'll aint got time for that shit no more."

Daryl laughs, "I know that's fo' sho!"

Come on young-blood let me find you a drink at that fucked up nudie bar across the street." Tero laughs.

* * *

Michonne walks closer to Rick, judging by the look on his face she sees he's pretty upset with her. She loses her grin and stops short of meeting him and rolls her eyes as he gets closer.

Rick approaches and circles her looking as though he's really angry with her but he's looking to see if she has any cuts or bruises on her body, specifically her neck. The last time he saw her up close was the day after the surgery Bob and Sasha did on her thigh. After that day she refused to see him.

She looks at him confused, "What are you doing Grimes?" she asks now irritated that he hasn't spoken yet.

"What am I doing?" he asks, "What the hell was that? Running off with no word to anybody that's just...unacceptable."

"Unacceptable…" she says indignantly then, she stops and calmly says cynically, "Well, as pleased as I am to see you I never liked being reprimanded in public, so perhaps we could do this later." And she walks over to where Tero and Daryl were.

He watches as Michonne walks away. He didn't mean to be so angry with her but she didn't seem to understand how concerned he really was over her missing from the cul de sac. He was pacing in the rain over her, wondering where she was and if she was alright.

He takes a couple of seconds to regroup and walks over toward everyone else.

"Hey, where are the two of you going off to?" Michonne yells.

Tero and Daryl turn around, "We're on our way to the nudie bar to find some drinks, your welcome to come but I doubt you'd be comfortable there." Tero tells her as she walks closer.

"As long as I don't have to do a pole dance for a drink I'm good." She teases.

"Ah…hold up," Rick catches up to the three, "Before everybody goes to happy hour, maybe we should do some work and clear a few of these rooms to sleep in for the night. There's a lot of ground to cover in order to look for supplies so we'll need to hold up here for at least one night." He explains.

Daryl pokes his lips out a little and looks at Tero, "Rick, always the constant voice of reason. Yea, let's get this work out the way first."

Tero shrugs his shoulders, "Alright."

Michonne turns away in silence and begins to walk toward the outside stairs that lead to the second floor.

* * *

Daryl bangs on the door of one the rooms and hears that sound that all four of them dread the most. "Aight, when I kick it in it'll stir up everything on this floor and below," He whispers as a warning for the group to be prepared for anything. He kicks the door in and instantly two walkers start coming straight for him. He loses his balance and lands on the bed.

Rick quickly bashes one walker with the bat Tero gave him earlier and Michonne decapitates the other one then stabs it in the head.

Daryl gets up from the bed, "Damn, I'll need a couple of shots to shake that shit off."

The room feels stuffy and stench of rotting walker flesh is strong. Rick walks over to the bathroom to check for lingering walkers and to tries the light switch with no luck. He reaches for the room door that leads to the inside corridor.

He cues them to stay quiet while he knocks on the door for roaming walkers in the corridor. When he knocks on the door he doesn't hear any activity, in fact he doesn't hear anything, so he begins to open the door slowly and ventures in to the corridor.

Rick looks down both sides seeing that they're in exactly in the middle. Daryl softly walks up close behind him.

Rick turns around and does a quick glance at Michonne still in the room with Tero, "Look, me and Chonne' will check the rooms down the right side you and Tero can check out the left. Daryl quickly got a sense that Rick wanted to be alone with Michonne so he shakes his head in agreement then motions Tero to follow him.

Michonne starts walking down the corridor; Rick walking a few steps behind her; from a distance using the light from window at the end of the hall to outline her shadow. As stares at her, he now realizes he can see the nape of her neck and how perfectly shaped her neck is. Even with the sword on her back he felt she could've been the symbol of any warrior goddess.

He continues watching her perfectly formed silhouette as she walks the corridor gracefully lending her ear to each door to see if she hears walkers. Finally, she stops at a door that didn't have any noise; she looks over at Rick then points to the door.

As Rick approaches Michonne's door pick, she folds her arms across her chest and leans her shoulder against the wall waiting for him to kick the door in.

He stares at her for second then hands her his bat; grabs both sides of the door jambs. Before he kicks the door in he looks over at Michonne and says, "Listen, I'm sorry about how I acted toward you earlier."

Once he kicks the door open you could hear the walkers stirring the other rooms.

He walks in and does a quick survey, Michonne walks in behind him and sees some luggage in the corner of the room. As soon as she walks further in the room ; she sees a child's pinwheel next to the luggage, blood has been splattered against the window and walls.

A flood of memories rush back about what happened to Andre' and her emotions briefly take hold; she walks out of the room in hurry in order to maintain her composure.

When Michonne walks back out she leans against the wall looking up at the ceiling in an attempt to collect herself.

Rick follows her out, "You alright?"

She kneels against the wall a little shaken and says, "Yea, I'm alright. Just make sure you grab the luggage out of there."

Rick stands over her and extends his hand to help her up. He knew that she carried a weight on her shoulders similar to the one he had carried for Judith before he found her alive.

Michonne grabs his hand and pulls herself up, "Let's take care of the other rooms." Rick says hoping to sustain her for the duration of the clearing.

Once she is on her feet she snatches her hand away and starts walking toward some of the other rooms. He looks at her vexed as to why she's still upset after he apologized.

* * *

Daryl looks down the corridor and sees Rick offering his hand to help Michonne up, but after she makes her way up she snatches her hand back. He always felt there was something going on between Rick and Michonne but; he has no idea exactly how intense that something is.

Tero casually walks over to Daryl, "What's up?"

Daryl shakes his head, "Nothing. Let's take care of the rest of these rooms", and he starts to walk to another room door.

_**A little while later,**_

Daryl and Tero finish with the left side and start walking to the middle of the hallway. Rick and Michonne still have a few more to check out so Rick tells her he'll be right back and walks over to Daryl and Tero.

"What's up?" Rick asks. "Well we're finished with our side we saw some things we could use, some rooms to hold us over for the night. Tero said that there's a gas station that's good so we're gonna try and find some supplies and food in the diner and those bars." Daryl tells him.

"Alright we will be finished in little bit, Tero you your packing right?" Rick asks.

"Hell yea", Tero shows him his Mossberg.

Rick says, "Good if you get in any trouble we should be able to hear it from it being that its so quiet around here.

Daryl looks over Ricks shoulder a bit then nods his head a little looking at Michonne down the hallway then looks back at Rick, "Everything alright?"

"Everything is fine; I just want to talk to her for a minute to find out why she left is all." He tells Daryl reassuringly.

Daryl shakes his head and they give each a roman handshake and Daryl and Tero leave.

* * *

Once Rick and Michonne finish clearing the empty rooms they could find, she starts walking toward the lobby steps. But before she reaches the steps, Rick quickly grabs her hand and pulls her in to one of the empty rooms.

When they get inside he pushes her against the door and kisses her eagerly.

Unable to resist his passionate kiss, she quickly wraps her arms around his neck and begins running her fingers through his hair, adding an intense energy to the stale undisturbed motel room.

After a few seconds he abruptly pulls himself out the kiss; throws his bat to the floor and walks over to the window and open the curtains on the window to let some light in, then sits down on the bed.

"Why...why would you just leave like that Chonne? Back at the prison I had to accept your reasons for leaving out days on end. But that's not the case now; you said you were done taking breaks, right?" Rick asks.

Michonne lets out a weighted sigh and walks over to the motel dresser and mirror;removes her sword and places it a top the dresser and drops her bag on the floor, "At first I thought I was alright in that room at Bob and Sasha's place, I was healing from the surgery…" she pauses, "…but after a while it became my jail. I started working out like crazy; I didn't want to see anyone. I was punishing myself because of the attack."

She places both of her hands on the dresser as if the dresser was helping her to maintain her balance, "Every day I stayed in that room I grew weaker and more afraid of what was out there. You of all people know if you plan on staying alive you can't be weak."

Michonne pauses to look at Rick's reflection in the mirror, "So I left…I had find to my nerve, I had to find that 'thing', that has been keeping me alive all this time."

Rick rubs his forehead for a minute in order to calm down then looks over at Michonne's back then at her reflection in the mirror.

The complete silence in the room and his stares becomes unnerving for her; so she begins to untie her ponytail.

"No…wait." Ricks blurts out.

"Leave it," he pauses then says, "It makes you look…regal."

He could always see her beauty but, now there wasn't anything to distract him away for her sparkling amber eyes and her ambrosial lips.

Michonne slowly drops her hands down by her side while staring at Rick in the mirror; she unexpectedly feels the butterflies in her stomach. She hasn't heard a compliment like that since years before the pestilence began.

Feeling a super charge of energy invading the room; the two quickly look away from one another's reflection in the mirror.

In an effort to diffuse the pressure in the room she grabs her bag off the floor and pretends to looking for something inside.

With an awkward subject change she decides to inquire, "Rick, I meant to ask; why you are so soak and…" unable to rephrase her question, she continues to look inside her bag at the same time guardedly finishing her question, "…wet."

He darts his piercing blue eyes back at her reflection then at her statuesque neck. Rick stands up and slowly walks up closely behind her; he removes her hand from inside of her knapsack, "I was standing out in the storm pacing the parking lot over you."

The minute Rick touches her hand, she's vehemently aroused; every sense in her body is heightened tenfold and the room becomes overrun with increasing warmth.

She looks at their reflection in the mirror and sees that Rick is actually taller than her making that much easier for him to dominate her.

He removes his hand from hers then earnestly wraps it around her stomach to pull her in close making her increasingly vulnerable to his advances.

She closes her eyes and bits the corner of her bottom lip hoping her aroused state will somehow dissipate her thirst for him.

Rick observes Michonne's weakening state in the mirror; as he oogles at closed eyes and partially bitten lip, he brushes his lips against her ear and whispers, "So did you find what you were looking for out there?" He begins placing gently yet loaded kisses on the nape of her neck.

Now dizzy from the lustful kisses he's placing on her neck; she warily answers, "No, I-I never lost it."

She looks in the mirror at her dominator and reaches her arm back to rub his hair while he continues to kiss her neck and shoulder, "I-I just forgot..," she releases a subtle moan from her lips when Rick moves his hand underneath her shirt and then her bra, "…where it was. It was just dormant."

Michonne stops speaking only to turn her head to the side for a long over due lip lock with Rick then; she pulls away from his lips every so slightly and looks in his icy sea blue eyes and says, "It was deep inside of me."

The two go back to kissing each other with the same fire as they did when they first came in to the room. He tweaks her brown mountain peaks almost loosening her to the point of a ragdoll. He uses his other hand to reaches down to massage her crotch through her pants causing her to moan a little louder.

"Promise you won't leave again Chonne, promise you won't leave without telling me," he whispers.

With every pass of his hand over her covered labia she gyrates against his thickness; "Promise?" he whispers again.

* * *

With the heat that's coming off of Rick and Michonne and the stale static air of the two of them feel the full blown erotic atmosphere of the trucker motel room. As their kiss gets heavier so does Rick's foreplay; he moves his hand from her crotch to the inside of her panties to examine her moistness and the intensity of her pulsating love nub.

She's unable to explain how much she enjoys Rick teasing her and his unspoken rule for her to quietly submit to him.

Rick looks at their reflection; as he watches every movement of his hand on her warmth he knows that she's completely willing to do whatever he commands.

* * *

She barely manages to speak in between her heavy breathing, "I-I promise". Without hesitation she starts to remove her shirt and her bra so that she can feel both of his rough callus hands on her breasts with her icy hard nipples.

Suddenly in a fevered rush; Rick quickly unsnaps her pants and pushes her pants and panties down to her knees; he unbuckles his gun belt letting it fall to the floor around his feet. Then he unzips his pants releasing the member he knew she had to have.

Rick pushes the knapsack and sword off the dresser and on to the floor; bends Michonne of the dresser and slides his rock solid organ in to her causing them both sound off with a quiet pleasured relief. He gently works her her chocolate tips, as he slowly and playfully creates a tight fitted path deep inside his warrior goddess.

Michonne clutches the back of the dresser in an attempt to control her excessive groans. He lifts her up from the dresser and grabs one of her shoulders pulling her in to his powerful thrusts to establish who's the subordinate and who's in charge then; he gradually pulls her back up towards his chest by her regal neck , arching her back against him while he licks and sucks earlobe.

He only slows down his charge to make sure she's compliant with his rules which only ignites the blaze in her more for what he has to give to her.

The only thing Rick can control about Michonne is the climax that he can give her; so he worked it to his advantage whenever he could.

As he reached for her moist slit again he sped up his thrusts only removed himself just to torture her a little more then slowly sliding himself back in.

She frantically begins to inhale gulps of air and shakes her head no because she's wants more time before she peaks, "Please… Rick please, I'm not ready", she whimpers desperately.

Rick teasingly smirks as he watches her in the mirror trying to helplessly to prevent the explosion her, "Yees…yees…come on Chonne', you know you can't hold out any longer," he whispers in ear while driving deeper inside of her ear.

He feels her hollow closing tighter and tighter around his standard when suddenly her flood gates rush open widening for everything his has to give to her.

Once he feels the river of her essences and the quivering of her body embracing all of him, it signals Rick to thrust in to her even harder before releasing his nectar.

The two falls limp like a couple of dominoes on the dresser from the excruciating pleasure. Something neither one ever thought would again.

Witnessing how Michonne is spent, Rick lifts up and plants soft kisses her the nape of her neck again then the small of her back, while the walkers in the a motel rooms clamber at the fading noises coming from their room.

* * *

As their energetic romp slowly comes to a close they begin to dress in silence; Michonne grabs her sword while Rick picks up his bat.

Right before she reaches for the door he place his hand on hers, "I know your better now and you're in a fighting mode again but, I want you stay with us. Close to me", Rick tells her.

"Rick," she says widening her eyes from surprise then; she softly grabs his scraggly beard, and kisses him, "I told you we'll always be, whether I am near you or not."

Rick forgets his reserve and grabs her and begins kissing her all over again.

Michonne stops kissing him, "But I can't stay under the same roof as another lioness. I told you, while you were deep inside me; I promise to tell you if I should ever decide to leave again." She graciously reassures him.

Rick stops her from opening the door, "No, I want you to stay with us…Me, Carl and Judith."

"What about Jane?" She asks.

"Maybe I will ask her to just take care of Judith during the day so we can take care of the day to day operations." He tells her.

Michonne loses the admiration for him in her face, "Like I said, there can be no 'maybe' when it comes to sleeping under the same roof."

He wraps his arm around her waist, pulls her in close and they share a soft and tender kiss, "I feel...Carl feels better knowing you are close by."

She kisses him again passionately then pats him on his chest with her hand, "O.k., just give me a day or two to think it over."


	18. Chapter 18: The Baby Factor Part 1

Chapter 18: The Baby Factor Part 1

Jane regains her composure after having a violent episode of vomiting in Abe's bathroom. As she walks out of the bathroom she spots Jimmy standing in the doorway of his bedroom as if he was listening to her in bathroom.

"What's wrong Jimmy? I'm alright." she claims. Jimmy finds it hard to hide the contempt he feels toward his sister so he walks down stairs and out the front door.

Abe comes out of his bedroom putting on his fatigue jacket, "Hey Sunshine, you feeling alright" he asks.

"Yea, it was probably something I eat last night." She answers.

"Oh, well I am off to work," Abe walks over to Jane and grabs her behind and squeezes it tightly causing her to become nauseous all over again from his lack of decorum, "I will see you later." He tells her.

As Abraham walks down the stairs, she remembers that Rosita usually stays in Abe's bedroom, "What about Rosita?"

"What about her? She's only there to…keep me…preoccupied until you come around", he replies as he's walking down the step and out the front door.

Jane starts walking down the steps when she observes James leaning on the wall in the foyer. "Jane…" he steps over to the bottom of the stairs, "…I said that we will help you with this. This can get done without us destroying everyone in the group, these people took us in; they will get over losing Michonne as long as there's no drama going on within the rest of the group."

Jane gracefully glides down the rest of the stairs with an icy rage in her eyes and her teeth clenched together, "I know that you are my brother but, if you don't fix this problem soon I will find a way to make you and Jimmy wish you had died in that hell hole with the rest of those baby eating cannibals."

In a matter of seconds all the rage and tension leaves Jane's face as she walks past him and in to the kitchen.

Jane always knew how to hurt brothers, even when they were kids she never really had any real sentiment for them. Her brothers have been holding on their entire lives for the day when she would finally show some adoration toward them as they always did for her.

Meanwhile next door…

Carl sits in the tiny living room of Glenn's house and watches as the young newlyweds play with Judith. He notices how lighthearted they are around his sister, but he already knew his sister had the power to cheer up anybody in any room. Glenn and Maggie hadn't seen very much of Judith since arriving at the survivor cul de sac. On the other hand, they also hadn't noticed how long it's been since being around her either because every day they were working. They were either, gardening, patrolling or fortifying the neighborhood. As Carl watches the young adults he reminisces about his mother and when she was alive…long before the turn.

For Carl, life in the old world felt like fading daydream rather than a past as recent as 2 or 3 years ago. On the day his father was shot all he could recall was the huge argument that his parents had that morning. He remembered that miserable empty feeling he had when his mother dropped him off at school that morning, wandering if his parents would get a divorce. Later that same afternoon, when he got out of school, his mother told him about his father being shot in the line duty.

Ever since that day, Carl's entire life (as well as the entire world) had become one chaotic disastrous event after another. But for now, he decided to imagine he was watching old home movies of himself as a toddler playing with both his parents…a time before the world became walking dead.

"When are the two of you gonna have baby?" Carl asked.

Glenn and Maggie glance at each other startled by his question. "Where is that coming from Carl?" Glenn answers back a little confused as to where this conversation is coming from or where it's going.

"I mean you guys are married now right? Isn't that what people do once they get married", Carl asks. Maggie looks over at Glenn with one brow raised and a smirk on her face anxiously awaiting Glenn's response to the question.

Maggie has been ready to have a baby since they were at the prison. But Glenn was very apprehensive about bring a life in to this world. He feared the responsibility involved with taking care of a family. He knew all too well how hard it was to travel on the road with a baby but more importantly he remembered what happened to Lori while giving birth to Judith and wasn't willing to take that same chance with Maggie no matter how much she wanted a child of her own.

"When things settle down in the world we will." Glenn tells him.

Maggie looks over at Glenn and gives him a sort of melancholy smile; "I am going to go put Judith down for a nap." And she walks upstairs.

Glenn watches Maggie as she takes Judith upstairs then turns around to Carl, "Come on Carl let's see what's going on with the fortifications for the day."

* * *

Later that morning Glenn and Carl come back to the house and find Jane and Maggie sitting in the living room talking and playing with Judith, "Oh, hey Jane." Glenn says.

Carl walks in behind him and sees Jane in the living playing with his sister.

"Hi guys." Jane says in a cheerful tone.

"Maggie a couple us are gonna go on a run over to True Value to see if there's any sediment or concrete for that gap that keeps sinking those booby traps every time it starts to rain. It's only a mile maybe two. It shouldn't be too much trouble." Glenn tells her.

Jane recalls a rundown drug store across the street from the hardware store. "Oh, I'll go with you guys, I haven't left this block in I don't know how long. Let me get my bag from next door." She tells Glenn.

"Alright, Carl you stay here with Maggie and your sister until I get back." Glenn tells him while holding the door open for Jane.

Maggie walks over to the door with Judith in her arms and gives Glenn a kiss, "Be careful out there."

Abe, Glenn, James, Jimmy and Jane pile in to one of the last vehicles left and head over to the True Value. Once they get there, Abe does a circle around the store to see if there are any herds hanging around. Beyond the parking lot of the hardware store there was nothing but over grown grass and huge trees that seem to be thriving now that there are less human being around.

He parks in front of one of the loading docks in the back of the store; everyone gets out and the four men head toward the ramp of the loading dock.

Jane grabs Jimmy's arm, "Hey would you guys be alright if I stole Jimmy away to help me scout out the drug store across the street?" she asks.

For some reason right away James tells her, "No. Just wait for us to finish up here and we can all go together."

Jimmy looks over at James offended, "She'll be alright if I'm there", he tells his brother.

"Then I will go with you guys", and James starts to walk toward them.

"No James you stay with them they will probably need your help getting all that concrete" Jane says with a smile.

James turns to look over at Jimmy and breathes a heavy worrisome sigh then places his hand firmly on his brother's shoulder, "Jimmy…" he pauses for a second then with great reluctance says, "…watch your back little brother…for anything." Jimmy shakes his head with a confused look on his face.

"Don't worry James; I'll take care of my little brother." Jane says grinning and tilting Jimmy's head in order to kiss his forehead then they head across the parking lot to the drug store.

Abe and Glenn walk inside the rundown hardware store as James watches his youngest brother and his older sister walk further away from him toward the drug store. He was never one to be spooked by anything or anyone with the exception of his sister.

James looks up and watches the menacing storm clouds move across the sky, he has this increasing feeling of dread that this would be the last time he would see his siblings together again. He quickly comes to terms with this horrid outlook, turns around and grabs a small store flatbed and rolls it in to the store.

As Jane and her younger brother walk toward the drug store Jimmy turns to her and says, "You have your mini machete right?"

Jane holds it up, "Yep its right here." The two continue on in silence through the drug store parking lot. Jimmy crouches down a bit to see if there are any walkers hidden in between or in back of the abandon cars. Jane checks the cars on the other side.

"Jimmy, do you remember when Mommy didn't pay the electric bill that time right around Christmas when you were little?" she asks.

"Which Christmas", he chuckled.

Jane laughs, "The one when Father Lucas came to the house and told us that Mommy was locked up for stabbing your Dad in the chest."

Jimmy stops and looked at her momentarily, "No. I thought she was locked up for stabbing that guy she was dating."

She tilts her head pitifully and smiles looking as though she was about to explode with laughter, "No silly, she was locked up for killing yours and James's father. He said that he was filing for custody for the both of you. So I told her that I she shouldn't let him come in and break up her family. I told her she should do whatever she had to in order to stop him." Jane says.

With little to no regret she goes on to laugh and say, "I mean, I had no idea that she would kill him, she may have taken what I said too far", she snickers and shakes her head, "Crazy Mommy."

Jimmy quickly absorbs what she has just told him and continues to walking, it was at that point he says sadly, "Well, I suppose it doesn't even matter now, he's probably dead anyway."

"Oh know he's been dead. He died from the stab wound. She stabbed him straight through the heart with an ice pick. That's how she ended up in the asylum and we ended up living with Father Lucas, that disgusting pedophile." She tells him in that same a casual tone.

Jane keeps walking at the same pace but Jimmy stops again to watches her walk toward the drug store door.

He can't believe what she has just told him and how she told him. It was as though she was gossiping about someone else's life and family, someone she had absolutely no feeling for or a connection with. She fails to even notice that he has stopped walking with her.

James and Jimmy adored their father when they were little. Their father had promised to one day to have them stay with him permanently as soon as he found nice home with good schools in the area. By the time Jimmy was in the 3rd grade his father was coming around to pick the brothers up every weekend. Then one day he stopped coming. Jimmy and James were devastated and no one ever told them why their father stopped coming around until today. It was at this point that Jimmy finally realized that Jane was a loathsome heartless human being and completely unconscious to the hurt that she caused to the people around her. He understood that she had no love or compassion for him, his brother James…anybody.

Jimmy begins to walk again when he sees three walkers coming from around the back of the drug store but the walkers haven't seen them yet. He runs toward Jane and pushes her against the opposite side of the wall from the emerging walkers and covers her mouth with his hand. They watch in silence as the few walkers veer off down the main road.

Jane removes his hand from her mouth, "Come on let's get in and out of here."

The automatic door glass, (along with door), is broken so they proceed to walk in the store. The overcast daylight from the sky provides enough light for them to enter but the further they go in the darker it becomes.

Jimmy pulls out two flashlights and hands one to his sister. He raises his hand to stop her from moving forward so he can see if there are any walkers stirring in the store. Every place he shines his flashlight he can see store shelves and displays sprawled out across the floor but no sign of walkers just yet. He motions for Jane to stay put while he walks around to look behind the check-out counter.

While standing in place Jane does her own survey of the area with the flashlight when she stops at one of the aisle signs on the floor that says "Baby and Mom". She quietly walks over toward the aisle sign on the floor and starts looking around for a pregnancy test kit.

Jimmy walks over to where she is and picks up some A&amp;D ointment he looks over at her crouching down sifting through debris on the floor, "Here's some A &amp;D ointment Judith can use this right?" he asks.

She keeps kneeling but turns around to shine the light on what he's holding, "Yea, get as much of that type of stuff as you can." She tells him.

Jimmy looks all over the floor for baby ointment, while he is looking he starts to wonder why Jane can't feel any emotions for her own brothers and yet she is obsessing over Michonne.

"Ha, I found one!" She says with a quiet delight.

"Found what?" He asks.

She stands up victory sprawled across her face, "A pregnancy test."

Jimmy looks at her and says, "Jane why are so obsessed over getting rid of Michonne?"

She slowly drops her hand with the pregnancy test to her side and with a venomous look on her face she responds, "Because I want Rick to look at me the same way he looks at her…" she lingers momentarily, "…if she's missing he won't stop until he finds her. So the only way he will forget about her is to get rid of her for good." Jane leaves a pause so that her plan can sink in to Jimmy's head. Seconds later she anxiously says, "Now wait here while I go pee."

Jimmy sits on top of one of the shelves on the floor and waits for her. He places his head in his hands wearily because he doesn't want to hurt Rick and his people anymore. He's tired of lying and scheming for her. He doesn't want to hurt these people that helped them escape from Terminus and allowed them in to their survival group. Jimmy is suddenly overcome with feelings of regret and remorse for the things that has he has done since the turn. Especially, what he has done for love of his sister.

A few minutes later, Jane emerges from the corner with a large smile on her face. She starts to walks over toward Jimmy's back while trying to avoid stepping on broken glass. "Jimmy, I'm pregnant again." She tells him with restrained joy in her voice.

He doesn't turn around but says in a low voice shaking his head, "Jane…" he pauses, "…you know that isn't Rick's baby that Abe's baby. Don't do this. I don't want to want to play these people anymore."

The look of joy leaves her face as she realizes what Jimmy has said out loud. She places the test stick in her bag then grabs one of the large pieces of glass on the floor. There's a heavier darkness that enters the small town drug store. When she grabs the glass from off the floor she grips it so hard blood begins to ooze from cut it have her hand.

Jane, little by little walks up behind him, "Ever since we were little you were always the gentle one out of the three of us. When mommy was locked away you cried and cried for weeks. I knew then that you would never make it that world without me, and you would've never made it this far now…without me."

She finally reaches his back and wraps her arms around his shoulders and arms and hugs him tightly. She places her nose in his hair and takes a large whiff then, kisses the top of his head. Jimmy begins to cry silently as he touches her arm, hoping that the love he always wanted from his older sister would suddenly seep through her skin.

"You don't have to lie for me anymore." She kisses his head again then with pity in her voice she goes on to say, "Remember when I told you that I would forgive some day for what you did…"

Jimmy begins to feel something liquid dripping on his arm right where her hand was wrapped. As he opens his eyes he can't see exactly what is dripping because the daylight coming in isn't enough to cast out the shadows.

Just when Jimmy is about to lift up her hand, "…someday I will, but not today" She takes the broken piece of glass in her hand drags it across her little brother throat.

Jimmy falls to the floor amongst the scattered drug store items. Jane watches her little brother as he desperately gasps for air repeatedly grabbing at his throat with his hands. The blood pouring from his throat begins to spill down around the sides of his neck and on to the floor. As Jane watches the life leave Jimmy's body she sees his bag, flashlight and weapon on the floor and immediately grabs it before the pool of blood reaches it.

She starts walking toward the drug store entrance then turns back to look at Jimmy one last time and shakes her head in complete contempt while saying, "Crazy Mommy", and leaves the drug store with what she came for.

As the three men quietly walk through the store Abe asks Glenn, "How are you and Maggie enjoying the company of that little lady so far?"

"Oh Judith is great, we almost forgot how nice it is to see baby in this hell on earth." Glenn answers.

"Yep, children bring a sort of joy that can't be explained. I miss mine every day", Abe says.

"You had kids?" Glenn asks with shock.

"Oh hell yea, a boy and a girl", Abe says with pride in his voice.

"Yea, Maggie wants to start a family, I'm like right now?" Abe stops and looks over at Glenn.

"Believe me even before this shit storm started people were always using that excuse…" Abe looks around the abandon hardware store but continues, "… even though it seems more relevant now than it did back then. But nonetheless there nothing like have a little person around."

Abe starts looking down the aisles, "My wife and I kept having trouble conceiving, she had about 3 miscarriages. One doctor said it was her, another one said it was me, so I decided fuck it, will adopt some kids. There are plenty of children in the world that need a loving family."

"I hope you don't mind me asking but, what happened?" Glenn gently asks.

"Well one day I got a little crazy after I kept seeing a couple of assholes eyeing my wife and daughter after the outbreak. The next morning when I woke up they were gone." Abe points down one of aisles, "Oh there we go."

They walk down the aisle and see a bags of concrete, "I guess you're supposed to stop using concrete when it's the end of the world," Abe laughs. They start loading up the flatbed, by the time they're finish they have five 10 pound bags of concrete and 8 buckets on concrete solution mix. They begin to walk down the main aisle passing by lot of stuff that they could easily put to use.

"I wonder why there's so much stuff still here", Glenn says, "With the exception of some stuff on the floor this place is damn near fully stocked.

Suddenly James's barbed wire lead-pipe rolls off the flatbed by accident make a loud clanging noise that echo's throughout the store. In the silence of the store Glenn starts to here movement coming from front. All three turn around and they sees herd of about 20 walkers starting to walk in their direction down the main aisle. More start to emerge from the side aisles.

"Come on we gotta move." Abe says.

James pushes the flatbed as fast as he can while still maintaining control. Abe and Glen start killing one or two stragglers that coming from the aisle a head of them. Unfortunately, as James gets closer to the loading dock opening he sees Jane crying hysterically…and without his brother.

Everything around James suddenly starts to move in slow motion and with no sound as it hits him that his little brother is dead. That miserable feeling that hung over his head earlier, has now engulfed every living cell in his body to the point where he couldn't even feel the flatbed cart in the grips of his hands.

"James they got Jimmy! Jimmy!" Jane wailed. James looks at his sister in shock and she continues crying and yelling. Abe and Glenn get to the loading dock and see Jane crying uncontrollably. They stand in shock for a brief second understanding instantly that the group has lost a member.

Glenn looks over at James feeling sorry for him but yells anyway, "James I sorry man but we got to get the hell out of here!"

Abe grabs the flatbed cart from Jimmy and rolls it down the ramp to the trunk of the vehicle and they begins to quickly load up concrete.

Just as Abe is about to closes the trunk; walkers start to approach the loading dock entrance. "Get in the car let's go!" Abe yells.

Everyone gets in the car and as they back away from the loading dock walkers start to walk and fall off the platform and down the loading dock ramp. He shifts the car back in drive and speeds through the parking lot then down the main road back to the cul de sac.


	19. Chapter 19: The Baby Factor Part 2

Daryl and Tero start walking toward the first bar across from the motel. Once they get close enough they can see that a group has already ran through it because of the front door is hanging off the hinges.

"You think we should check it out", Tero asks.

"Might as well, if we're lucky all the walkers have probably walked out by now." He says shrugging his shoulders.

Daryl cautiously walks toward the entrance and shines his flashlight inside the bar. Panning around the room he hears a raspy moan so he shines the flashlight over toward the noise and he sees one lone female walker wearing a pole dancer's outfit pacing around stage floor. "Damn after all this shit she's still working", he says with disgust.

Tero pops his head in the doorway and looks at the walker, "You got jokes Dixon."

They walk in and look around the dark bar. The only light in the bar is coming from the large front window by the front door. Daryl gestures to Tero to shine the flashlight on the walker so he can kill it. He hits her straight through the eye socket then walks over to retrieve his arrow.

As he walks over to the dead walker he sees that the table and chair were thrown across the room, "Yea, some people already been through here."

He walks behind the long oak bar and starts looking through the shelves below and behind him for some alcohol. When he finally reaches the other end of the bar he finds two lonely bottles of peach schnapps. "Damn, why the hell do bars have this Schnapps shit if nobody likes", he says holding up the bottle for Tero to see.

"Damn!" Tero says with a foul look upon his face, "It's the end of the fucking world and we can't find one decent drink!" He walks over to end of the bar and sits down, "I guess this is what you're supposed to drink when your living in hell." Tero laughs.

Daryl grabs two shot glasses and he pours two shots for him and his war buddy. Right before they throw the shots down their throats Daryl states, "Hell sucks ass man!"

Tero gestures for another shot, "So what's up with your man and his women?"

Daryl does a quick one shoulder shrug then pours another shot for the two of them, "I don't know…" he downs another shot this time with a sour look on his face from the burn in his throat from the schnapps, "…they just got some shit to work out that's all."

He lifts his shot up in the air, "Well here to hoping that ditch that baggage soon before it's too late."

Daryl pours another shot for himself and says, "I'll drink to that."

Tero hands Daryl a pack of smokes and some matches then he hands him a joint out of his shirt pocket.

Daryl lights the joint and takes a hit then passes it over to Tero. When Daryl blows the weed smoke out he thinks he hears a faint banging coming from the bar.

"Damn T this some good shit cause I'm hearing shit already," he chuckles. "You hear that, right?"

Tero blows the weed smoke out and listens, "Yea I hear it, sounds like its coming from the floor or we're really high, he laughs.

Daryl snickers a little then quietly walks toward the other end of the bar. He stops right in front of an extremely large bar mat. He bends down to lift up the mat and sees a trap door. He clearly hears banging and scratching noises coming from it.

* * *

Rick and Michonne start walking down the corridor checking in the empty motel rooms that they cleared earlier. They're placing items in the hallway that they'll be taking with them once they leave. In one of the rooms Michonne finds a netted bag of sports equipment. She smiles at how excited Carl will be once he sees the football. She's thinking that maybe Carl and Rick will have some down time to play catch.

She pulls the football out of the netted bag and walks out of the room.

Rick slowly walks out one of the other rooms reading a manual. He looks up at Michonne and stuffs the manual in is bag, "Where did you find that?" he asks holding up his hands for her to through the football.

She throws to him, "It was in here."

She shows him the netted bag full of sports equipment. He walks closer to the bag to get a better look at what's inside and grins, "It might be nice to do something recreational in the neighborhood besides killing and building."

Michonne looks up at him shaking her head in agreement.

Rick looks down both sides of the hallway, "Alright, you wanna check out that diner attached to the lobby down stairs?"

"Yes, I am starving." Michonne admits.

When they get in the small motel lobby they check behind the check-out desk and in the back office for supplies. When they walk in to the manager's office they can easily see that people have already been through it.

Rick walks behind the desk and checks all the drawers, then he bends down and looks underneath the desk to see if there any hidden compartments.

Michonne looks at him strangely, "What are you looking for down there?"

"My boss used to have a desk similar to this with a hidden a compartment; he kept two bottles of whiskey in it. Poor guy stayed drunk." He says in a muffled voice from under the desk.

Michonne hears a click then Rick places two unopened bottles of scotch and whisky on the desk, "See." Rick stands up and puts the bottles in his bag, "Come on let's see if we can find something to eat around here."

Once they go in to the diner they see plenty of broken glass and toppled shelves sprawled out on the floor. The two aren't surprised but they had hoped that something was hidden away that scavengers may have over looked. Michonne ventures in to the kitchen and sees that it too is pretty empty. The walk-in freezer door is wide open and bare. She walks around the long stainless steel cutting table looking underneath it to see if there's anything that neighborhood could use but there was nothing.

She walks to the other end of the kitchen in to a storage room just as Rick is about to enter front of the kitchen.

Rick hears her gasp and quickly walks toward the outburst, "Chonne, Chonne what wrong?!"

When he finally reaches the storage room, he sees Michonne trying to open a huge jar of onion pickles and relaxes his stance a bit as he fondly watches the little girl in her try to open the jar.

"I used to eat these damn things all day a kid", she tells him.

Rick walks over and chuckles a little, "Give it here."

Once he opens the jar the smell sharply hit is nose, "Oh that smells awful", he tells her with a sour look on his face. He laughs handing the jar back.

Michonne places the jar on the shelf and grabs one of the onion pickles then proceeds to peel a layer of onion skin.

Rick watches her with some revolt as she eats the peeled onion skin.

"What? It's sour but it's good!" She explains while chewing the skin; she starts peeling another layer off then slowly strolls closer to Rick ready to taunt, "Try one," she says with a naughty grin.

Rick jerks his head back, "No, I don't want any of that shit!"

"Come on, it's good", Michonne laughs as she gets closer.

Rick chuckles, "No, I told you don't want it", as she gets closer to him he stops moving back and grabs her wrist with the onion skin in her hand and smiles at her display of playfulness.

Nonetheless, in that short playful moment the mood changes, Rick wraps his other arm around the back of Michonne's waist and gradually pulls her in close; smoothly places her wrist around his neck and locks both his hands around the back of her waist.

He looks down at her pickled juiced lips and quietly presses his lips to hers. A few seconds later Rick pulls away from Michonne lips just a little bit and licks his lips.

"Oh, that doesn't taste all that bad." he remarks in a low seductive voice.

"See, I wouldn't tell you try anything that I wouldn't try myself." She says.

Once they start their lip embrace again; Michonne starts to feel awkward because this kiss isn't lustful; in fact it's a bit too personal for her.

She starts to pulling away from him; the only time she felt comfortable with him this close is when he they're about to get very nasty. Intimate moments still didn't sit well with her. Passionate moments were sort of fleeting for her so she could handle those stages of intense affection but, to do it just for the sake of being close was a big problem for her.

Michonne looks away from Ricks aqua blues and nervously pulls herself out of his grip and places the lid back on the jar, "We had better go check, I mean find Daryl and Tero", she tells him.

Rick notices the quick mood change in Michonne; he sees the same reaction from her every time he wants to show her tenderness. But he snickers to his self a little bit as he grabs the jar of onion pickles.

* * *

Rick and Michonne walk across the parking lot in silence.

Rick's checking out the signs on the some of the other buildings when he decides to ask her, "Michonne, are you…", they stop abruptly when they hear someone laughing in the distance.

As they get closer the bar the laughter becomes louder; when they look inside they see Tero with his head on the bar, but they don't see Daryl.

Rick walks in slowly, "Hey, hey, where's Daryl?"

Tero turns around. "I'm on the floor down here!" Daryl laughs hysterically.

Rick and Michonne walk to the end of the bar and see Daryl holding his stomach in pain he's laughing so hard.

"Are you having a good time?" Rick asks smiling down at Daryl.

Daryl warily gets up and laughs, "It's this old man"

Michonne sees the partial roach burning in the ash tray and giggles, "No, it's probably that." She bumps Rick's arm and points to the ash tray.

Daryl glances at Tero, "I'm aint talking to you no more T", he tells him as he gradually calms his laughter down.

Daryl finally stops laughing and motions to everyone to be silent and points to the trap door in the floor of the bar.

He gestures everybody to stay quiet so they can hear the banging and scratching noise coming from it. "We figured we should wait for back up before we check it out." He whispers to Rick.

Rick and Daryl stand on the side of the trap door opening and then he motions for Tero to open it up, he explained to him a few minutes before to open the door in small controlled bursts so they can kill the walkers trapped in the cellar one at a time.

About a half dozen walkers later, Rick throws a cracked ash tray down the hole making sure all the walkers are out.

* * *

Michonne walks down the cellar steps with a flashlight and begins to look around for movement; walking around the large cellar she can see that most of the stuff down there is unopened. There're all kinds of beer kegs and bottles of wines. Crates full of alcohol and shelves with large jars full of olives, cherries and other drink garnishments.

In the far corner there are stacked boxes of pretzels, peanuts and chips. Everything looks as fresh as the day it was brought there. At the other end of the cellar is a wide ramp that lead to some doors, she tries to open them but its locked from the outside.

Rick and Daryl make their way into the cellar with their flashlights, "Holy shit! A Tero the good stuff is down here!" Daryl shouts.

Rick scans the wall for a light switch; he flips on some dim ceiling fluorescent lights, "Must've been some kind of backup generator; the owners must have tried to hide out here or something." Rick explains.

He points to the dry pools of blood by the wall, "Or maybe someone got shot or bit and died down here...where the hell is she?" Rick adds.

Daryl points down to the far end of the cellar.

Michonne starts walking back toward Rick and Daryl, "I don't know how we are gonna get all this stuff back to the block."

"We aren't", Rick says, "Nobody knows about this so far. We'll take what we can and close it back up tight; that way if we should ever have to leave the block in a hurry we will have spot with shelter and food. But for now we need to get some of this stuff out of here and in to our vehicles."

"Well those doors down there are locked from the outside." She informs them.

"Aight then, me and T will drive around to the back." Daryl tells them while going back up the cellars stairs.

"Check to see if there are some keys on any of those walkers for the locks, hopefully Tero has some bolt cutters." Rick yells back.

* * *

Daryl and Tero begin walking outside towards the back of the bar; once they turn the corner they come face to face with 7 walkers. Daryl quickly pushes one of the walkers back away from him.

Tero bashes one in the head with his weapon; but once the walker dies it falls on top of him causing him to fall straight back on to the pavement knocking all the wind out of him.

Daryl shoots a couple walkers with his crossbow while Tero gets up, "T, you alright?" he shouts.

Tero manages to get up and kills a few more walkers.

After Daryl and Tero finish with the walkers in the around the back of the bar, Tero starts coughing uncontrollably and places his hand on the brick wall of the bar for support.

While attempting to cover his cough with his hand; he realizes that he's coughing up blood.

Daryl walks over to him seeing the blood in his hand, "Damn T, are you alright?"

Tero finally stops coughing, "I'm alright", he says.

"Man you re coughing up blood, I would hardly consider you to be alright." Daryl says.

Tero lifts himself off the wall and tells him, "Its nature's way of tell me my time here is coming to a close." He takes a handkerchief out of his back pocket to wipe the blood off his hand and his mouth, "Ever since Shelia died I've been waiting out the days alone in that house waiting for the end. When they needed volunteers to meet up with you I spoke up. I was lucky enough to be able to come out here, have few drinks and have some good laughs in the process. And I haven't had a good laugh in a while; all in all this has been a great day for me."

He can see how pissed Daryl is that he came on this run knowing full well that he's very sick, "Daryl, we all have an expiration date. Things being the way they are now…" Tero pauses, "...Look, just remember, every day that you are alive and kicking is a damn good day."

Daryl grabs the bolt cutters off the ground and starts walking over to the back of the bar, "Come on let's see if there's a lock on this back door."

* * *

Michonne walks over to the one of the wine cabinets and pulls out a bottle of white wine. The last time she had white wine was a few weeks before her, Mike, Terry and Andre' left for the refugee center. She inspects the bottle like a connoisseur; smiling at the memory of that night with Mike.

Rick observes her smiling at the bottle of wine and walks over to her, "What are you smiling about?"

She quickly shoves herself back in to reality and put's the bottle back on the shelf; with a nonchalant side step she averts the closeness of the moment with Rick by walking away and saying, "I bet Judith will love cherries."

Rick puts his weapon down on a mini wine shelf against the wall of the cellar, "Chonne...are you trying to avoid being close to me?" he inquires.

She turns around and squints at him absurdly, "Really? You're gonna ask me that after what took place in the motel room this morning?"

Walking over to the boxes of pretzels she adds, "I'm pretty sure every position you had me in earlier used to be illegal in this state." she jokes.

"Besides, I think we know each other well enough, right?" She picks up one of the boxes and moves it closer to the loading entrance then, with more farce she adds, "We don't have to be like Glenn and Maggie constantly reassuring one another over and over again about how we feel, right?"

Rick gradually walks over to Michonne and intently stands in her personal space.

Feeling the awkwardness of the moment; she starts to back away slowing attempting to put more space in between them but, every time she steps back Rick steps closer. They continuing doing this in silence until her back is against the wall.

Rick places his forearm against the wall over top of Michonne's head; he tilts his head slightly then leans in closely looking in to her sparkling brown sugar eyes and subtly says, "I mean close like this."

Michonne looks down at the floor then the walls trying to avoid eye contact with Rick.

He uses his hand to adjust her chin so she can look in his electric blue eyes, and with all modesty he asks her, "Chonne, the only time your comfortable being near me like this is when we are having sex?"

He reaches down to hold her hand in an effort to gauge exactly how rough it is for her to be still with him.

* * *

A double honk from Tero's car horn saves Michonne from answering Rick's question and it releases her from this extremely perplexing moment. She slides her hand out of Rick's, "We better get started with moving this stuff."

As Michonne starts walking away; Rick stares at her as she grabs one of the trolleys. It was never easy for Rick to express how he felt about anyone unless it was to Carl or Judith. But for some unforeseen reason he felt the need to express his self to Michonne.

Rick and crew head back to the motel with a box of pretzel and a box of chips under each arm.

As the small group begin to walk to their cleared motel rooms, Rick places the boxes on the floor while Tero keeps walking down the left side of the corridor. Michonne walks up to one of the box next to Rick and grabs a couple of bags of pretzels then walks to the room where she left her bag.

Rick and Daryl sit on the floor of the corridor, "So you wanna tell me how you found her?"

Daryl starts checking his bow when he explains, "I was tracking a buck and I heard some walkers nearby, when I went over to the noise I saw the walkers surrounding something, I thought it may have been the deer I was tracking. I was about to walk away when I heard someone's voice, when I looked back again I saw her trying to get away but one of them grabbed her hair stopping her from getting away. So I shot the one holding her hair then the others. Then this morning on the drive over here we ran in to bunch of walkers on one of the bridges", Daryl stops checking his bow to look at Rick, "I don't know what was making her run away from them yesterday but she cut a shit load of them down this morning. That's why I said she's good now."

Rick nods at his brother, "Well I'm glad you were there to help."

Daryl goes back to checking his bow and says, "Me too. So are the two of you…good now?"

Rick looks down at his weapon, "As good as it can be for right now."

Daryl gets up off the floor then looks down the corridor where Tero was walking, "Old people are always teaching whether they know it or not. Tero said something earlier…", Rick stands up waiting to hear what Tero had to say to Daryl, "…we ain't got the luxury of carrying baggage anymore," Daryl smiles to himself as he repeats Tero's words, "Every day that we're alive and kicking is a damn good day."

Rick considers Tero's observation and says, "Yes it is."

* * *

The two men walk in opposite directions down the corridor; Daryl knocks on Tero's door, "Hey T you alright for the night?"

Tero opens the door and grins at the fact Daryl is checking on him, "Yea Dixon I'm good."

Daryl nods and starts walking toward his room.

"Ah hold up…", Tero grabs his car keys, a small baggy of weed and Bamboo papers then hands it to Daryl, "…hold on to this for me. I don't want to hold ya'll up if you have to make a quick getaway."

Daryl looks at him oddly, "We don't leave no member behind T."

Tero looks at him with appreciative smile and tells him, "I'm afraid you're gonna have to."

* * *

Rick walks in to the motel room where Michonne was staying; when he walks in he sees the balcony door wide open. So he closes the door behind him and grabs one of the chairs by the small writing table and props it up against the door handle.

He walks over to the balcony door and sees Michonne sitting on the balcony floor, "Aren't you gonna get some sleep?" he asks her.

"No I can keep watch. I don't mind." She replies.

He places his weapon inside the room then comes back out and leans on the balcony railing watching a walker far off in the distance as the last remnants of daylight are swallowed up by the night. "So what's up...why can't you be still with me?"

Michonne presses her lips together and makes a deep sigh, "Rick, when I lost…" she gets choked up momentarily, "…I lost everything. I had nothing and nobody. I wanted to cry over losing my baby but I couldn't because I had to keep going. So I had to push all my grief, all my sadness and guilt deep down. I put it some place in me where I can't touch it. Being out there by myself all that time I realized I missed something more than what I lost at that refugee center…I missed people."

"So far you haven't experienced being alone but, I don't think there can be anything worse in this world than to be alone. Human beings need contact with other human beings. Day in and day out all I wanted was to see someone anyone. It was like I was the only person left on the planet. I lost my mind out there because I had no one there to console me over the loss of my baby, no one there with me to enjoy finding something as simple as an apple tree, or a can of spam. I had to learn how to survive without one of the most fundamental basic needs that every living thing on this planet must have…a connection to others. That's how I ended up talking to my dead boyfriend. I was out there for months by myself. It could have been a year for all I know."

"What about this morning? How do you explain that?" Rick asks.

"Rick did you ever notice that whenever we do what we do it's always in a place where danger is less than a heartbeat away. That need that we fulfill for on another could easily be anything having to do with an adrenaline rush, we could probably accomplish the same thing by fighting one another but, I like what we do better." The two of them blush and smile at each other.

"When we get grimy its primordial not intimate, I have been sitting here considering what you asked of me earlier, I don't think I can be what you need me to be anymore. I don't think I can be that person I used to be. You've been lucky enough to maintain your role as a leader, protector, and father. My role changed the second that refugee center got over run, I had to stop being a girlfriend and a mother, all of that good stuff that makes a women a women…I don't have that anymore and that's something that Judith and Carl should have. They have to have it. I can't get close to anyone anymore Rick, because if I remember what intimacy feels like and loose it all over again…I won't make it; I know I just won't make it."

The clouds in night sky part for a few moments and moon takes center stage. Rick lifts up of the railing and looks at Michonne and extends his hand to her, "Come with me."

She gets up a little annoyed because she thinks he hasn't heard a word that she's said and she really doesn't feel like having "primordial" sex right now.

Rick pulls Michonne inside the room and moves the small writing table against the balcony door.

He opens the curtains allowing the moonlight to enter the room;he takes his jacket off while Michonne sits on the side of the bed.

As he lays down on the bed she says, "Rick I am not in the mood for…" he interrupts her.

"I guess I'll have to fix your issues with intimacy as often as I can." He grabs her arm and gently pulls her down next to him wrapping his arm around her stomach and pulling her in close.

They lay in bed oddly still.

Michonne considers getting up and moving over to the other bed because she feels so very uneasy. Instead, she lifts Ricks arm from around her stomach then sits up to look down at him.

He looks at her face in the moonlight wondering why she's changed her mind about laying down with him.

She doesn't like being nervous or scared about anything; so she gives in to this still moment with Rick. She turns around and lays back down on the bed with him but, this time she places her head on his chest right under his chin, wraps her arms around him and curls up to him as close as she can.

Rick readjusts so that he's laying flat on his back then he wraps both arms around her; smiles then kisses Michonne's forehead while tenderly caressing her back. In a soft and gentle voice he tells her, "Don't worry I'll fix it."


	20. Chapter 20 : Songs of the robin

_**Authors note: I strongly recommend that readers listen to Billie Holiday's vesion of "Summertime" (1936). This song will give you a clearer understanding of the mood on the way back to the cul de sac. However, it is only a suggestion. **_

_**Lanie**_

Songs of the robin

During the wee hours of the morning Daryl starts to stir out of his sleep when he instantly jumps up and out of the motel room bed. As he stands still for a second he realizes that he woke up startled because of the deafening silence all around him. There was absolutely no movement of life. Daryl always had some place to sleep where ever the group settled, but most of the time he spent the night out in the woods hunting.

In that moment, he remembers his brother Merle telling him why robins are always singing right before the sun comes up. He told him, "The robin sings lil brother, right before day break to let other birds know that he's managed to live through the night."

Since the outbreak Daryl had come to rely on the songs of robins in the early hours of the morning to remind him that he has managed to live through the night.

He walks over to the window to look outside. The night was ending as he examined the horizon growing brighter and brighter. The sun is being hidden by those same gloomy overcast clouds that have followed the group ever since they arrived at the cul de sac. He goes in to the bathroom to see if any water comes out of the faucet, when he turns it on a tiny but steady stream of water starts to come out so he splashes the water on his face then cups some in his mouth. He looks around the small bathroom for something to wash his face with; once he finds something he goes back to the sink only to see that the steady stream of water has turned brown.

Daryl looks out of the window again to check for walkers on the balcony then he grabs his crossbow and walks out of the motel room into the corridor leaving his door slightly open. He walks over to the room door where Tero had been staying and stands in front of it in silence.

Tero was like any other senior citizen; he woke up at the crack of dawn every morning. If he wasn't on walker patrol with Daryl overnight he would always come see Daryl before his shift was over and smoke a joint with him right before someone came to relieve him.

Daryl warily raises his hand to knock on Tero's door; but he pauses and begins to thinking about that early morning robin. In a fit of denial Daryl says sedately under his breath, "You probably tired from all that shit from yesterday", so instead of knocking on the door he starts collecting some of the items left in the corridor that they planned on taking back to the cul de sac and goes down stairs to the motel lobby.

Once outside, Daryl places the items on the bench outside the lobby door and looks over at Tero's SUV to make sure that it's still there, and then he starts to walk toward the back of the building to make sure the truck he came in is still intact. Just as he is about to turn the corner he can hear the tarp on the back of the truck blowing in the wind. When he turns the corner he sees the back of the truck engulfed by walkers eat the buck that he and Michonne cut up the day before yesterday.

_Rick is walking along the path in the woods where he set up the snares to catch small game. As he begins to walk up on one of the snares he notices a fox trying to pull a squirrel from the snare. He stealthily approaches the fox still tugging away at the squirrel then Rick jumps to ground grabbing the fox by the neck and screams, "I got you now!" The fox fights Rick by trying to bite his fingers and wildly waving its claws around attempting to scratch him. _

_Rick violently shakes and holds the fox's neck trying to choke it to death when Carl walks up behind him and yells, "Stop it, stop it! You're killing her!" Rick looks back at Carl confused as to why Carl cares about the fox he's trying to choke and why does he assume it's a female. When Rick goes to look back at the fox he sees his hands are around Michonne's neck._

Rick and Michonne are lying in bed side by side; He has his arm wrapped around her stomach when he is jarred out of his sleep from the nightmare of choking her. As soon as he realizes it was just a dream he turns his head and sees that she is still asleep. He lays his head back down and pulls her in to him a little tighter when he suddenly hears a frantic knock at the door.

Rick jumps up and runs over to the door; Michonne sits up and grabs her katana. He opens the door and sees Daryl anxious and with concern written all over his face. "We got about 25-30 walkers eaten the hell out of deer I caught the other day. We gotta get out of here." Daryl tells him. "What about the SUV? Is it still accessible?" Rick asks while putting his jacket on. "Yea but not for long," Daryl answers, "Alright you and Chonne start gathering up the stuff, wake up Tero and get the car keys." Rick tells him. Daryl hands him Tero's keys.

Michonne walks over to Rick and hands him his weapon and his gun. "Go wake up T and let's get out the hell out of here. I'll pull around to the side stairs ya'll start throwing the stuff down." Rick tells them.

Michonne and Daryl start grabbing the stuff lying against the walls of the motel rooms and they start throwing it down the side stairs. As the two of them gather the last of the supplies Michonne runs in to Daryl room and grabs his stuff. Immediately upon coming out of his room she sees Daryl knocking on Tero's door. She begins to walk over to Daryl just as he's dropping his head down. As she gets closer she can hear moans and clawing on the other side of Tero's door. Michonne looks away sadly realizing what has happened. Daryl places his hand on door and says in a low voice, "Sorry brother, you'll be missed T."

Rick pulls the SUV around to the side stairs and starts stuffing the bags that they threw down in car. Daryl and Michonne start coming down the stairs and start to help him load up the vehicle. Michonne goes to grab another bag when she sees two walkers coming around the corner. Rick and Daryl don't see the walkers so she stops helping, runs over to the walkers and slashes both walker heads in half with one strike. She peeks around the corner of the building and catches sight of a line of walkers on their way towards the corner of the building. She turns around and quickly runs back to the car and tells them, "Come on we gotta go, they're coming."

Michonne gets in the passenger while Daryl makes room in the backseat to get in. Rick gets in the driver's seat and puts the key in the ignition. He looks around and says, "Where's Tero?" Michonne looks over at Rick closes her eyes, and shakes her head with regret. He looks at Michonne and is about to say something when he sees the walkers coming around corner.

Once they pull off from the trucker motel Rick asks, "Did you guys close the doors to the room?" Michonne shakes her head yes. "This place would be a good plan B if we ever have to hurry up and leave the cul de sac," he says.

The three ride along route 85 in silence. Daryl starts to think about the loss of his buddy and gets agitated and starts to shove the stuff in the backseat around so he can lay his head on the car door arm rest. Rick and Michonne hear his frustration but don't say a word.

Michonne begins to delve through Tero's CD case. All the CD's are from a time in the early 20th century, a time in civilization that will soon be considered nothing more than folklore. She pulls out a Billie Holiday CD and places it in to the CD player.

The first song that comes on is "Summertime", as the sultry horns and drums of the song begins to play, Lady Day's words seems to creates an ideal back drop as they drive by the high fields of wheat and cotton lined along the sides of route 85, almost as if Ms. Holiday was purposely mocking the events of morning. Rick, Michonne and Daryl listen to the words attentively.

_Summertime and the livin' is easy/_

_Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high/_

_Oh, your daddy's rich and your ma is good lookin'/_

_So hush little baby, don't you cry/_

_One of these mornings, you're goin' to rise up singin'/_

_Then you spread your wings and you'll take the sky/_

_But 'til that mornin', there's nothin' can harm you/_

_With daddy and mammy standin' by/_

As he listens to the song, Rick begins to think about the loss of Tero and how less than 24 hours ago was so grateful that Michonne was o.k. Tero's death reminds Rick that he no control of anything in this world. So he speeds up in an attempt to get back to Carl and Judith faster.

Rick recalls the conversation he and Tero had on the way over and what Daryl told him yesterday. In an attempt to work on Michonne's issues with intimacy, he glances at her and then reaches for the hand of the one thing that he could control from time to time. And that was giving pleasure to the zombie killing goddess in the seat next to him.

Rick swerves out the way of a walker on the road, in the process some of the stuff in the hatch spills on to the back seat. "Shit!" Daryl says annoyingly. Once he pushes the stuff back in to the hatch he glances up front and notices that Rick has his hand on top of Michonne's. He lies back down on the car door armrest and considers what Tero said in the bar about "Rick and his woman." Daryl lifts his head a little to see if Rick is still holding her hand and lies back down again with a tiny grin on his face of relief. He felt contentment knowing that Tero's lessons were finally being put in to practice by the both of them.


	21. Chapter 21: Breaking Even

Rick pulls up to the barricade of the cul de sac; he could see that Tyreese and Abe were keeping watch for the day. He sticks his head out the driver side window and yells, "Me, Michonne and Daryl."

Tyreese and Abe look at one another knowing that Tero went Rick with the day before. Both men climbed down and opened the barricade so Rick could drive in.

Behind the barricade to the far right, Carl and Glenn are filling the cracks in the asphalt with sediment when they see Tyreese and Abe jump down from the 8' foot tall barricade. Carl looks at Glenn with excitement. Glenn smiles and grabs the bag out of his Carl's hand and says, "Let's take a break."

Carl turns around and sees Michonne in the passenger seat and starts to run over.

Once Rick drives in he sees Carl running and smiling in the rear view mirror. He parks, shuts the car off and gets out with a smile. But Instead of running to hug Rick, Carl runs to the passenger side and yells, "Michonne!"

Michonne sees Carl at her car window and smiles excitedly and says, "Carl!"

She gets out and Carl gives her a huge hug. While he buries his hed in to her stomach he asks, "Why did you leave like that?" She looks down at the top of his dark brown hair then she nudges him to look up at her.

Leaning down she says, "I won't ever do it again…" she looks over the at Rick who's watching the two of them embrace and winks at him while saying, "…I promise."

With a modest smile, Rick holds up two fingers and silently verbalizes, "That's twice." He smiles then turns to close the driver door.

Daryl gets out of the backseat and approaches Tyreese and Abe. He embraces Tyreese as soldiers do then he does the same with Abe.

Tyreese looks around and asks, "Where's Tero?"

Daryl looks down and tells them regrettably, "He didn't make it. We were fighting off a some walkers yesterday and he was alright but, afterwards he started coughing up blood…" Daryl shakes his head then in a low voice he says, "…he already knew what was coming for him when he left the block yesterday."

Tyreese and Abe look away in separate directions at the news. Tyreese turns back around as Rick approaches them, "We lost Jimmy yesterday."

Rick looks at Tyreese in shock, "What happened?"

Abe explains, "We went over to the hardware store to get some sediment for the cracks in the asphalt like T suggested. Jane decided to tag along because there was a drugstore across the street. She wanted to get some ointment for Judith so her and Jimmy went while we were in True Value.

"They went alone?" Rick asks.

"Yup, even James told the two to wait until we finished but, she said that she would be fine going over there with Jimmy. By the time she came back we were on the run from a herd inside the store. Jane's been hysterical since the incident she can't even hold it together long enough to tell anybody exactly what happened. James was sure he could handle it; he knew when to handle walkers and when to run. Maybe they just snuck up on him or something." Abe finishes.

Rick turns and walks away from the men in anger. He remembers again, that as much as he would like to have control over everyone he travelled with and their situation he really didn't know Abe that well. He trusted Tyreese to take care of the group, Rick wasn't really sure if that also included Abe, Rosita along with Jane and her brothers. For now, he would have to accept that Tyreese did what was asked of him keeping his kids and the prison group safe.

Glenn walks over and looking around the vehicle as he approaches Tyreese, Abe and Daryl, "Where's T?" In a mournful unison all three men bow their heads in silence. It only took one look for Glenn to understand that Tero was gone.

* * *

As Michonne and Carl start walking up the block Sasha walks down to welcome back Michonne, she walks up and embraces Michonne tightly and whispers in her ear, "I see you found your 'badass'."

Michonne leans back and looks at Sasha, "You knew that I would."

Sasha smiles at Michonne then smiles down at Carl. "Where's T", Sasha asks. The warm smile Michonne had on face only seconds before disappears as she tells Sasha, "He didn't make it."

Daryl sees Michonne, Carl and Sasha heading up the block and yells, "Michonne, hold up."

She walks back over to Daryl leaving Carl and Sasha, "What's up?" "Listen I know you need your space and all but, I was thinking that we could stay at Tero's house. I just need a place to rest my head when I come back from huntin' and you won't be by yourself all the time." He explains.

Michonne knew that Daryl didn't want any other incidences happening just because she's living by herself. And she really couldn't object to his reasoning. "Yea, that sounds like a plan." She smiles.

Rick starts heading up the block toward his house to deal with Jane when Daryl runs over and tells him, "Check it out, me and Michonne are gonna start staying at T's house. I'm only looking to lay my head somewhere when I get back from huntin' and she won't be alone all the time. Daryl pauses then says to Rick, "The two of us are loners anyway so one of us should at least know where the other is right?"

Rick's a bit hesitant at the idea of Daryl and Michonne staying together under the same roof alone. But he didn't have an argument against it. He also knew that he'd be dealing with Jane for a while due to the death of Jimmy. So he shook his head in agreement.

Daryl whistles to Michonne and says, "Chonne' come on we'll unload the car at T's place then Sasha can come by later to sort it out.

* * *

Rick reaches for the front door knob then pulls his arm back to watch as Michonne and Daryl ride up the street to T's house. He begins to feel guilty over the situation with Jane. He had feeling of guilt because Jimmy died while helping Jane get supplies for Judith.

Even still he really wanted her to move out so Michonne could move in. However, he just didn't have it in him to be so cruel to someone who lost their brother for the sake of his daughter.

When Rick walks in to the house he sees baby Judith on the living room floor playing with a couple of plastic blocks, "Hey you", he said in a relieved and joyful tone. Judith's face lights up as she sees her daddy entering the house. He waits as she crawls over to the couch to pull herself up.

He watches her in amazement as she stands up with the couch's assistance. She takes a step but continues to hold on to the couch looking up at her father for approval.

Rick kneels to her level and cheers her on, "Come on, come to Daddy that's right." Hearing the supportive tone in her father's voice, Judith let's go of the couch and takes another step. He's so elated that he wants to yell out but he holds it in as she starts walking to him.

Judith walks over to him and he scoops her up planting kisses all over her adorable grin. "Look at Daddy's little girl walking all by yourself", he cuddles her closely and whispers in her ear, "Hopefully by this time next year Chonne will be teaching you how to fence." He pulls away from her ear and looks at her cute little face when she says, "_I tat, Chonne. Chonne, Chonne_".

Rick looks at Judith strangely, "How did you learn that?" he asks rhetorically. He passes over the thought thinking that Carl must have taught her how to say Michonne's nickname.

He walks in to the kitchen with Judith in his arms, he sees Jane sitting in the kitchen chair with her head lying down on the kitchen table and Maggie sitting next to her rubbing her back trying to console her. Maggie looks up at Rick with a large smile walks over to him and gives him a hug then she grabs Judith out of his hands so he can talk with Jane.

Rick sits down next to Jane and says, "Hey Jane, I heard what happened to Jimmy yesterday I'm really sorry. What happened out there?"

Jane lifts her head up to look at Rick then she explodes in to more tears and wraps her arms around his neck. Rick felt awkward hugging her even in her time of misfortune. He felt as though her other brother James would be better suited to comfort her about the loss of their brother.

He gave her an ambivalent hug back then he says, "Maybe I should go and get James to stay with you for a while, its times like this that you should be around your family."

Jane stops sobbing momentarily and looks at Rick, "But you are my family, the four of us. You, me, Judith and Carl we are family we should be there for each other." She goes back to crying on his shoulder. Rick's unsure of how or if he should tell her about moving out instead he decides to wait until she is in a calmer state.

* * *

Rick finally convinces Jane to lay down upstairs in order to get some rest. When he comes downstairs he sees Maggie holding Judith's hand helping her walk around outside.

He walks over to her, "Maggie can you hold on to Judith and Carl for another day or two while Jane gets herself together? I know that you and Glenn…"

Maggie interrupts with, "Rick, its fine, really. Being around a happy baby these days is a pleasure."

Rick smiles at Maggie knowing how proud Hershel would be of his little girl, "Thanks Maggie. Are you going to stick around a while? I wanna go talk to James to see if Jane may have said anything to him about yesterday."

"Sure, we can hang out here for a while" she says all the while making silly faces at Judith.

* * *

Meanwhile, Michonne and Daryl get out of the car in Tero's driveway; she looks over at Daryl, "Hey, maybe we should check it out first." Daryl agrees and grabs his crossbow out of the back seat.

As the two walk across the front lawn, Tero's neighbor "Ed" walks out of his front door toward the end of his lawn and asks, "Hey, where's T?"

Daryl looks over at Michonne and she shrugs her shoulders not knowing what he should say.

He walks over to edge of the driveway and says in a low voice, "Ah…Tero didn't make it back from the run. I'm sorry."

Ed pokes his lips out to one side and shakes his head refusing to believe that Daryl and his people didn't somehow have a hand in Tero's death, "Tero always came back from a run. If he didn't make it back it had something to do with you and your people."

Daryl looks at Ed with an angered skepticism, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me", Ed says.

Daryl quickly starts to walk closer to Tero's neighbor.

Michonne observes the body language between the two men and runs over to stop Daryl.

"Daryl! Hold up!" She yells; gets in between them just before Daryl enters Ed's personal space, "Wait, look we all liked Tero and we're all going to miss him but the two of you both know what the real threat is out there. So let's just go our separate ways and mourn the death of good man."

Ed looks Michonne up and down admiring her snug fitting vest and her shapely legs. With the look of a perverted old man he says, "$1200.00"

Michonne and Daryl look at him strangely. Ed says again, "$1200.00, that's what I would've whored you out for 30 years ago sweetheart."

Michonne furrows eye brows and clinches her jaw in anger and reaches back for her katana.

Daryl stops her arm from unsheathing her sword; grabs her around her waist and begins to aggressively pull her back.

Daryl was planning on giving Ed a beat down; Michonne was going to kill him.

"Get fuck out of here old man before I let her go", Daryl yells while pulling Michonne back to Tero's lawn.

Ed yells back, "_Puttana maledetta!_" spits on the ground and walks back into his house.

* * *

Michonne starts to break free from Daryl's grip, "Get off of me!"

Daryl releases her and they stand on the lawn for a few seconds in silence. She releases her hand from her sword and takes a couple of deeps breaths. Then she turns around and with anger still written all over her face she says, "Come on lets clear this fucking house."

As they approach the front steps the porch light comes on but it's very dim. Daryl and Michonne look at one another believing that someone was in the house. The first thing that came to mind for Daryl was Ed and if he had someone planted in Tero's house. So he motions to her to back him up, that way whoever is in there sees him first.

He tries the door to see if it's unlocked then he pulls Tero's house keys from his pocket. He unlocks the door and they enter.

Just as he steps inside very dim lights come on illuminating the foyer and the room beyond; Michonne shuts the front door.

They stand in the foyer in amazement as they quickly scan over the living room.

The living room was in pristine condition. Michonne walks past Daryl and gazes at the elegance of the room. It was as though she was thrown back in time when the world was normal. There are expensive pieces of art work lined across the walls like the art exhibits she used to attend with Mike. The furniture in the room looks as though it had just been delivered the day before.

Daryl views the room with some distaste but, deep down he has always wanted to live some place with nice things. When he was kid everything in his house was from church donations, the Salvation Army, Goodwill or a junk yard.

The two walk further in to the living room and they see a fire place with slightly lit kindles if wood. On top of the mantle were pictures of Tero and his wife Sheila on their wedding day and pictures of their children and grandchildren. Over top of the fireplace what a mounted 46" flat panel TV. On either side of the fireplace were bookshelves full of books, DVD's and CD's.

Michonne slowly walks around the room with intense fascination then, she abruptly stopped in front of a very much out of place beat up barker lounger in the middle of the room facing the T.V.

"What would possess someone to put a hideous recliner in the middle of this gorgeous room?" She pauses to smell the room, "And what is that sme…", she turns around to look at Daryl.

He has a large smile on his face and starts shaking his head yes. She looks at him and starts grinning and shaking her head in slight disbelief.

"Hell yea, Come on help me find it." He tells her.

When they walk through the kitchen more dim lights automatically come on, the lights in the kitchen are hardly visible with the daylight beaming through the kitchen windows.

They walk through the immaculate kitchen toward the basement door; Michonne hands Daryl the flashlight then he stomps his foot on the basement steps to see if any noise comes about.

As they walk down the basement stairs the smell intensifies; once they reach the bottom of the steps more bright fluorescent bulbs automatically come on lighting up the entire basement.

Daryl quickly ready's his cross bow while Michonne immediately unsheathes her sword. He starts to venture further in to the basement while Michonne walks over to a door directly across from the stairs.

She knocks on the door first; when she doesn't hear anything moving she opens it up she sees four high powered solar power battery units. She kneels down and reads how much power each battery has.

Under her breath she says, "I should've gone to school for engineering."

"Oh shit…" Daryl yells, "…no wonder T kept trying to get me to stop by his house. Damn, if Merle was here he would've be in heaven." He laughs.

Michonne walks over to where he's standing and sees 15 marijuana plants in a grow room. She shakes her head again and repeats in a low voice of what she said moments earlier, "Damn, I should've been a God damn engineer."

"Yo, we're gonna git soo nice tonight, right! Daryl grins at her and tries to reason with her by stating, "We need honor Tero for giving me the keys to his house last night."

"I don't know about that…" Michonne turns and walks away while saying, "… it makes me too paranoid, besides we maybe on watch tonight."

Daryl looks over at the plants then looks at her and says in agreement, "True. But if we aren't you gonna smoke some right?"

Michonne looks back at him and rolls her eyes in the back of her head and says with a reluctant smile, "Maybe. Come on Cheech; let's check out the rest of the basement."

They wonder over to the laundry room that's right next to the grow room; they see that all the shelves along the laundry room wall are full of various canned meats and vegetables. On the floor beneath each set of shelving are 20 pound bags of rice.

"I always wondered why he never took anything we brought back from our runs…this is why." Daryl says.

Michonne nudges his shoulder, "Come on let's check out the rest of the basement."

As they walk beneath the basement stairs they see that the rest of the basement set up like a workshop. There's plenty of tools, raw materials, different types of carpentry machinery, semi-automatic weapons, pistols, a couple of rifles and shotguns, knives, hatchets, axes, bags of gunpowder and bags of potassium nitrate.

Daryl walks over to the bookshelf against one of the walls and pulls one out a book on ancient weaponry. "Man, Tero was keeping his self-busy. He even has books about making solar panels how to use solar power." He says to Michonne across the room.

She walks over to the book shelf and reaches for one of the books titled, '_Plagues of the ancient and modern world_' "The minute they showed the outbreak on the news he must have started stocking up on any and every book about survival he could get his hands on." She replies.

Michonne put the book back so she can investigate Tero's workbench; she looks over the different tools when she sees a employee badge with a picture of Tero's wife. Next her picture on the badge is a Federal seal with Department of Health and Human Services wrapped around it. Beneath the picture it has Sheila's name and under her name is her employee ID# and the division she worked for, "Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion".

She puts the badge down slowly while considering the fact they Tero and his wife may have known about the outbreak before public did.

Daryl puts the book back on the shelf and walks over to the wall covered in tools; he gets a little closer and sees one of two homemade .45 caliber hand guns. The handle and the base were carved out of wood and lacquered. The handle had two small compartments on each side with one bullet, the barrel and trigger made out of scrap metal and a tiny stainless steel pipe. All held together by a hose clamp.

Michonne walks over to Daryl and picks up the other .45 and says, "Wow, this is beautiful and deadly." She places it back on the wall and says, "Let's check out the upstairs."

* * *

Going upstairs to the third floor, Daryl notices the framed photos lined along the stairway walls and pauses to look at one of the photos of Tero and Shelia in army fatigues. The background looks as though it was taken during the Vietnam War. In the picture Tero is hugging and kissing her on the cheek.

Daryl looks at how happy they are in the picture and began to wonder if he could or would he ever find that type of joy for himself.

Once Michonne reaches the top floor she looks around and sees four closed doors; she knocks on the first door to see if there's any movement then she slowly opens it up. It's the master bedroom and it was full light from the three large windows, the bed was neatly made up. On either side of the bed were matching mahogany dressers. On the opposite wall from the bed was a closet with sliding mirror doors and next to the closet is another book case and overtop of that was another mounted flat screen TV. She walks towards an open door to the far left of the closet and bookcase and peeks in to find a spotless master bathroom with over-sized bath tub.

Daryl walks over to the other room next to the master bedroom and knocks on the door. Hearing nothing he opens it and sees it just a full size bathroom; he looks around the bathroom; glances inside the cabinets under the sink and a linen closet.

Then he walks back out in to the hall and quietly shuts the bathroom door. He starts to reach for the door knob on the room next to the bathroom when he sees a sign on the door farthest away from the master bedroom that reads, "DO NOT ENTER". Daryl exhales grimly then slowly approaches the door and gives it two light knocks.

He places his ear to the door for a few seconds; suddenly he hears the sound of a small walker moaning and clawing from inside the room.

Daryl immediately steps back knowing what was on the other side of the door.

Michonne comes out of the master bedroom and sees Daryl siting on the floor, leaning against the bathroom door. She watches him staring at the door at the end of the hall.

Next, she hears the small walker sounds coming from the room.

Daryl pulled his knees up to his chest and leaned his head against the door.

Michonne walks over and sits down next to him listening to the hungry little walker scratching at the door.

She says woefully, "I bet it's one of their grandkids in the picture down stairs on the mantle."

The two sit in silence for a while then Michonne takes a sniffle to stop her nose from running then looks at Daryl, "He just couldn't bring himself to do it. That doesn't make him anything less than what you knew him to be…a decent man and a friend."

Daryl lifts his head off the door and looks at her with watery eyes and says softly, "Every time I feel like we're getting a head, there's always something lurking…like the bad times are always waiting around to destroy any good times."

Michonne gets up and says, "The only reason that makes sense to me is balance; if it's good all the time without nothing bad happening we'll stop appreciate the good times; although I must admit, so far the bad times seem to come around more frequent then the good ones."

She looks over at the door drops her head a little, "Hope seems to always come with huge price these days."

Extending her hand to help Daryl up; he grabs her hand and pulls himself up, "So what do we do now," he asks.

Michonne lets out heavy sigh while looking over at the door then shrugs her shoulders and says, "We do what Tero couldn't do."


	22. Chapter 22: Blood vs Loyalty

Rick starts walking up the block toward James's house when he sees Bob rolling a wheel barrel with a bag of cement in it. He runs up to him, "Bob, let me ask you something…"Bob puts the wheel barrel down, "…I know you were a medic in the army but…how well did solders handle the death of brother in battle?"

Bob shrugs his shoulders and says, "It's hard to say. Some of them would hold that shit in and bury it deep especially in the middle of a battle. Then on occasion I would see some guys' breakdown and never recover. But every now and then I would see guys torn up by death of someone in his platoon then it turns that the two of them hated each other and had threaten to kill one another on a couple of occasions. But from clinical stand point with Jane..." he shakes his head, "…she aint no soldier. She's a civilian but they're plenty of civilians in the same shit we're in and they bury their grief in order to survive. If she doesn't bounce back after a period mourning she'll never be right."

"Yea," Rick said sadly. "I haven't seen James too much either, you would think that he would want to be there for his sister but…" Bob shrugs shoulder and adds, "…like I was saying everyone is different."

"Thanks", Rick says then he starts up the block again.

Rick knocks on the door and Rosita opens it up, "Hey, Rick glad to see you made it back alright." She tells him.

"Thanks, is James around?" He asks.

"Yea, he's in his room its upstairs on the far left." She tells him.

Rick walks upstairs and knocks on the door, "James, its Rick can I talk to you for a sec?"

James opens the door and nods his head to come in.

When Rick comes in he sees two beds, one of the beds has some of Jimmy's stuff piled in the middle. James closes the door and sits on the other bed. "I came by to tell you that I was sorry to hear about your brother."

James shakes his head then leans down on to his thighs then, clasps his hands together tightly to the point where his hand resemble the color of a hot pink.

Rick sees James is trying hard to bury his grief, trying hard to hold it together.

"Listen, don't you think you should be down there with your sister? I mean she's really shook up. It's times like this family should mourn together, to heal." He reasons.

James looks over at Rick with bitterness, "She just a half-sister Rick." He walks over to the door and says, "She _wants_ you."He opens the door for Rick, "I'm on watch to night and I need to get some sleep. Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate it."

Rick looks at him a bit confused and walks out of the room.

Before leaving James' house, Rick looks up the block and sees the SUV in Tero's driveway, so he decides to go and check out the house. Once he gets to the front door he sees Daryl coming down the steps holding a little body covered with a blanket.

Rick looks in horror at the blanket and starts to ask what happened but Daryl cuts him off, "Don't ask man…" Daryl shakes his head and keeps walking down the stairs, "…not right now."

Rick can hear the sorrow in his voice as he walks past him;freezing in place for a moment to regain himself then yells out for, "Michonne?"

"I'm up stairs." She yells back.

He walks upstairs and looks down the hallway where he sees she's standing in front of the window staring out at the neighborhood.

As he walks in to the room he sees the floor is littered with bottles of asthma inhalers; he looks at the back of her as she stands in front of the window with one of her arms crossed and the other holding her head.

He walks over to her and in a soft voice he asks, "You wanna tell me about?"

Michonne turns around and says "No."

Somewhat bothered by her answer, he remembers what she said the night before about her issues with intimacy and sharing. So he doesn't press her.

She starts walking out of the room so she can check the other door and asks, "Have you seen this house?"

Rick closes the door behind him and follows her and says, "No, not really."

"Well you are in for a pleasant surprise." She knocks on the door, when she doesn't hear anything she opens it up.

The two of them look inside and it's an office with a computer table and chair, laptop and wall shelf full of DVD's. There are also a couple of small files cabinets and a spare bed against the wall by a window.

"Damn, this house is fabulous." she acknowledges while walking downstairs.

When they reach the living room Rick looks around and notices the lights coming on then looks around the room with admiration, "Wow, he must have made a good living as an engineer."

Rick continues walking over to the fireplace mantle and picks up a picture of Tero's wife and graciously smiles, "Yes, she was a pretty lady indeed", remembering his conversation with Tero on the way to the trucker motel.

"Come on, you gotta see this, his wife made a good living as well." Michonne says while walking to the kitchen toward the basement.

Walking through the kitchen Rick takes a sniff of the air, "Tero had a grow room in here." He asks.

"Yep, wait till you see the basement." She tells him

Rick gets to the bottom of the basement steps and Michonne shows him the utility closet with the solar batteries. "Damn, he had power all this time?" Rick says. Michonne walks him over to the grow room, then over to the laundry room with the stock piles of food.

She walks over to the workbench and grabs the work badge to show Rick. Once he walks over to where she is he is baffled by how many weapons, tools and raw material there are.

"Look at this", she says handing him Shelia's badge.

He reads the badge, looks at Michonne and says, "You think they knew about the outbreak before it started?"

Michonne pokes her lips out a bit and says, "I don't know, it's possible."

Rick looks around the room and says, "Alright, we got to get that truck back from the motel, pass out some of these weapons and food to our people, then take the rest to that cellar at the bar.

"What about the natives", she asks.

"They haven't been very forthcoming with the help when it comes to food. So we'll do what we planned and pass out the stuff we got from the run and keep this reserve for our people. We're doing most of the work around here anyway", he explains.

Before they walk up back upstairs Rick grabs a book off the book shelf about solar power; as he begins to walk away from the workshop he sees the wall full of tools then observes the handmade .45 caliber handgun.

He pulls it off to the wall; while admiring it does a quiet laugh and says, "Cute."

Michonne turns around and smiles at him, "See I knew you had an eye for art."

Rick puts the .45 back on the wall, walks closer to his woman gazing her up and down, "I know beauty when I see it."

Meanwhile, Daryl walks over to the large shed in the corner of Tero's backyard hoping there's a shovel so he can bury the little body; he pass by some old metal lawn furniture and an over grown garden that hasn't been tended to in a long time.

When he reaches the shed only to find thatits been pad locked. He knocks on the shed door to see if anything moves; then he pulls out the keys Tero gave him trusting that the key to the pad lock is on them.

He tries a few keys then he finds the right one and opens the lock, once again, lights automatically come on. He steps inside and directly in front of the entrance he sees some gardening tools and equipment. However to the left and right sides of the shed sees more guns, bags of gunpowder, boxes of ammunition shelved along all the walls, solar panels, boxes of "Lifesaver Water Bottles and other survival gear. Daryl steps out of the shed with a shovel, stabs it in to the ground then runs back in to get Rick and Michonne.

Daryl catches Rick and Michonne coming back upstairs from the basement. "You gotta check out this Tero's shed, they knew about the outbreak way before it started to spread."

They start walking over to the shed, as Rick pass by the lawn furniture he looks up at the house next door and sees a man staring at them from the window. "Who's that?" He asks.

"Oh, that's the man I'm going to kill next chance I get." Michonne says nonchalantly while walking past him and Daryl.

Rick stops and grabs Daryl's arm and lamentably to ask. "What the hell was that?"

Daryl is hesitant but tells him anyway, "That's Tero's neighbor. He got upset when I told him the news about T, he started blaming us and I was about to go over and kick his ass but Chonne' got in between us to stop before anything started...", he pauses and continues with, "...then…he called her whore. She got mad and was in the process of taking out her sword but I grabbed her arm and pulled her away."

Daryl looks over at the window and tells him, "He's sort of old, probably as old as Tero maybe a few years younger. He looks too old to be the one of her attackers but…who knows."

Rick could feel a surge of heat rising from his head to his face; he turns his back to Daryl for a moment then looks at him and says, "Thank you for telling me Daryl."

The three of them look around the shed with awe.

"Where the hell did they get the money to buy all this shit?" Rick aks.

"It's like a survivalist Wal-Mart." Daryl adds.

Michonne walks over to the far right corner and notices 3 stacks of copy paper boxes. When she looks inside the top box she notices they are filled with 3" binders. Looking closely at the binder spines, they all have labels with, "PROPERTY OF D.H.H.S". Without any announcement she grabs one of the boxes and begins to carry it out of the shed.

Rick walks over to the other copier boxes to see what was in them; after reading the labels on the binders he too, quickly grabs the other two boxes and leaves the shed.

Michonne enters the dining room and places the box on the long classic dining room table. She removes the lid and pulls out the binders when Rick walks in and places the other two on the table. She feels somewhat nervous standing so close to Rick after sleeping next to him last night, so she blurts out, "How's Jane holding up?"

Rick looks at Michonne, "She's a mess. Sobbing uncontrollably she's practically inconsolable. I swear, if I didn't know that she just lost her brother…I would think she was faking."

He starts to pull out a binder from one of the boxes he carried in, "I went to talk to James and he seemed…genuinely upset at first. Then I suggested that go and be with Jane help her mourn and he got pissed with me and told me that Jane's his half-sister and that she wants me."

Michonne pretends to look through the pages in binder remaining silent as he tells her about the conversation he had with James.

Rick can see that she's somewhat bothered by what James told him earlier, he can already see that softer side of her held on to last night going in full blown retreat.

So he grabs the binder out of her hand and places on top of the box; feeling the awkward moment coming in to the dining, Michonne tells him, "I better go help Daryl."

He reassuringly holds her hand stopping her from leaving the room and says, "No, no, I told last night I would fix it…look at me."

She doesn't want to look in his eyes so she focuses on eyebrows.

Rick starts to chuckle because he can tell that she's still not look at his eyes. So leans his face a little closer and says, "Chonne, look at me not at my eyebrows. I still want you under the same roof with me…but it would be pretty cruel to kick her out the day after her brother died."

Michonne's relieved that she doesn't have to tap in to her softer side just yet however, she was curious to see if she still had it in her at all. She enjoyed lying with Rick the night before. She felt safe in a way that her boyfriend Mike couldn't provide after the outbreak. Hugging Rick for her was plunging in to a relationship that could end horribly and at any given minute. She thought about all the "what if's" what if she couldn't find that softer side that he wanted, what if she makes the wrong decision like before and it costs Carl or Judith their lives. What if Rick got sick, what if Carl got sick or Judith?

All of these thoughts start to fill her head with one touch of his hand. Not wanting to upset him, she looks at Rick and says, "It's alright, I understand. I can wait… handle your business.

He lifts her hand and says, "I am."

Later around dusk everyone with the exception of James and Jane come over to Daryl's new digs. Michonne shows them basement and everyone gets excited by the abundance of weapons and food that are in the basement.

Abe looks over at the weapons and books in the workshop, while Daryl and Glenn check out the grow room.

Maggie, Judith and Carl go back upstairs because of the strong stench of the weed.

Tyreese, Bob, Sasha and Rosita start laughing at how much food is in the laundry room.

Rick announces, "I know everybody is feeling good right now with what's in the basement and what we brought back from the run. But we don't want to deplete all of our resources so everybody take what they need for their house and then we are going move the rest to the trucker motel. If times get bad we can always go back to the truck stop and get it. For now, the stuff in this basement is ours; the other survivors in the neighborhood don't need to know about this. We'll pass out an equal share of what was brought back from the run to the neighborhood, but this stuff is ours."

Glenn asks, "What's at the stop?"

"I'm thinking it's sort of a safe house in case we need to get out of the area in a hurry. Sort of a plan B", Rick tells him.

Abe comes from out of the workshop and says, "Why do they get to stay here living in the lap of luxury?"

Before Rick can say anything Daryl steps in front and tells Abe, "Cause Tero gave me the keys to his house last night that's why. You got a problem with that?"

"Alright fair enough but why does she get to stay here too?" Abe asks with some detection of spite. Glenn steps up, "Me and Maggie are cool where we are." Tyreese looks at Bob and Sasha then over at Daryl and says, "Same here we're good where we are too."

Daryl looks back at Abe waiting for him to say something else.

Michonne walks next to Daryl trying to diffuse the animosity, "It's not that serious Daryl, I can stay anywhere."

"No, you're staying here in this house." Daryl says looking directly at Abe.

Rick's relieved that Daryl spoke up about Michonne staying in the house.

He tells everyone, "Look let's do this. Just so everyone has a chance to hang out here, While Jane is in mourning she won't be able to keep Judith so I was hoping that we could do some kind of schedule with taking turns keeper her during the day along with myself. Whoever wants to keep her for the day can watch her up here. That way everyone can take a rest from the day to day labor if they want to."

Abe looks around the room and sees that no one has any objections, so he shakes his head in agreement.

As everyone starts to gather up what they need, Rick pulls Sasha to the side away from everyone, "Sasha, I want you to arrange it so that Abe and James are on a morning watch together. I want to show Glenn and Tyreese where this motel is located."

"What about Bob?" She asks.

"I'll have to show him the next time I go out there maybe sooner. Besides I want you and Bob to stay away from any hint of danger. The two of you are the only medics we have." Rick tells her.

Sasha asks, "Well when do you want me to do this?"

"Sometime over the next four or five days, we had to leave in a hurry from a herd so I'm hoping by next week the walkers will have dispersed.

The sun is almost down as everyone leaves with food and weapons form Daryl's house.

On the way out of the front door, Maggie turns around and looks at Michonne, "I'm glad you came back alright." She switches Judith to the other arm, 'We were all worried that you left us."

Michonne looks at Maggie and feels guilty about running off without any notice, "I'm sorry Maggie, and I certainly didn't mean to scare you or anybody else." Michonne steps closer to Maggie; moved by her concerns, "I just had to fix something that required me to step away from everyone. But, if I had known that it would cause this distress I would've tried to find another way."

Michonne smiles at Judith then says in a baby voice, "I won't do it again, I promise."

Maggie and Michonne hug warmly then Maggie walks down the block with Carl and Glenn.

She closes the door and walks back in to the living room. The living room is looking more like an art exhibit or a model home, the soft lighting in the ceiling adds a quiet ambiance to the room.

Rick walks in to living room; his arms full of supplies and a few weapons are hanging off his shoulder. The two stand on opposite sides of the room in silence for a moment.

Michonne looks at Rick and asks, "Where's Daryl?"

"He's around back; him and Tyreese are going to drop off some of the water filtrations bottles to our people before it gets too dark.

She looks down at the floor, "Well, I guess you'd had better get going yourself."

Rick senses the disappointment in Michonne's voice about him leaving. So he places his supplies on the floor and his weapons on the loveseat.

"I can't even put in to words how much I don't want to leave", he tells her as his slowly walks across the room.

Intuitively she feels another one those intimate moment about to invade the room so she tries to make a bee line for the stairs but he steps in front of her, foiling her attempts of leaving this moment so close to him.

"Lying with you last night felt calming to me, do you know what would have made it perfect?" He asks.

Michonne looks in his hypnotic blue eyes when he says, "Knowing that Carl and Judith were only seconds away from you or me."

She finally concedes to the moment and tells Rick, "I enjoyed it too, probably more than you think."

Relieved that she felt the same, he begins to kiss her lips tenderly, she quickly falls in to the kiss as she pulls his shirt bringing him closer to her.

Without thinking Michonne slips her tongue in to his mouth quickly changing the temperature of the room and the kiss.

Rick pins her against wall next to the front door and starts sucking her long graceful neck as she runs her fingers through the formless curls in his hair.

He places one hand on the wall for support and moves the other one up her shirt to caress her breasts.

As soon as his hand brushes against her nipple she breaks out of the kiss and steps away leaving Rick with his one hand on the wall.

She smirks feeling a little embarrassed that she elevated the kiss from warm to hot,"You should probably go or…I may not let you leave." She tells him in a cheeky tone.

Rick walks over to the supplies he had placed on the floor and the weapons on the loveseat.

Michonne walks over to the door and opens it for him. Right before he leaves the front porch he turns around and says, "That's three promises you've made so far."

She grins and fidgets with the door knob a little while saying, "I know, I won't break them."


	23. Chapter 23 Life's a Bitch!

Rick is walking down the block with supplies and weapons over his shoulder, when he sees Daryl coming out of Glenn and Maggie's house. Daryl begins to walk towards him as while lighting up a joint.

The two men meeting in the middle of the street, "So all of our people got a filtration kit", Rick asks. "Yep, I told them to hold on to it in case there ever caught outside the block in the woods." Daryl responds.

Rick looks down at Daryl's hand then at his glossy eyes, with an amusing grin he asks, "Are you all right? I mean I can only guess when the last time you had any of that?"

Daryl looks at his own hand with the spliff then he waves his other hand in presentation and says, "We are in the hills of the south. I may not know as much a botanist but, I know my herb when I see it." Rick laughs a little and says "Fair enough."

Daryl offers the joint to Rick but he declines and says, "Did you give a set of bump keys to Carl?" He takes another puff and replies, "Yep, and I told him not to use it anywhere else but our house. Do you want Chonne' to have a set too?" Rick chuckles a bit, "Not yet, I wanna make sure she's not planning to kill the guy next door".

Rick stops laughing and looks back over his shoulder at Daryl's and Michonne's place, then he turns back around to Daryl. By the look on his face Daryl knows that he really doesn't want to go back to the house with Jane because he wants to keep an eye on Michonne.

"Rick, you know there's plenty of room for you and the kids to stay up there. In fact, it might be a good idea that you stay with her when I'm out huntin'" Daryl tells him. Rick goes silent as he looks down the block at his place with Jane, "Naw, not yet anyway. I gotta go deal with her", he says while nodding his head down the block.

In an attempt to relieve Rick of stress and worry Daryl nudges Rick on the arm with his elbow and looks him in the eye and reassures him with, "Hey, I care about Michonne too, she's like the kin, I won't let nothin' happen to her." Rick looks at him and gives him an affirming nod and walks down the block.

Rosita comes out of her house huffs angrily and stands on her front porch after arguing with Abraham over the use of some of the supplies they retrieved from Daryl's.

Daryl hears the frustrated huff and shines his flashlight in Rosita's direction. She holds her hand right above her eyes due to the brightness and yells, "Yea, Daryl it's me, can you tone down the light a little?"

Daryl walks over to her using his flashlight as a guide. As he gets closer to Rosita she smells the aroma of his spliff. She mocks the woman from the movie, "_Friday_" and eagerly asks, "Whatcha' smokin' on?"

Daryl immediately cracks up because he's familiar with saying. He stands in front of her and says, "Puff puff give, I keeps the rotation going darlin'.", and pass her the spliff. He watches Rosita as she takes a long drag, the longest he's ever seen a woman take before. When she passes it back to him, he looks at the tiny roach in his hand then at her. He jokingly says, "Damn, girl! I only got one more in pocket and I was gonna light that one up once Glenn came out."

Rosita blows what little smoke that's left in her lungs out, "What do you mean, when Glenn comes out? Where ya'll going?" she asks him indignantly. "We're gonna break down a couple of those plants to make some more room in the basement." He tells her.

Daryl senses that she wants to get away from Abraham for a minute so he asks, "You wanna give us a hand?" He sees a cheerful smile pop up on her face. She signals her head yes and the two start walking away from the house.

After a while Glenn walks out of his house and turns on his flashlight as he walks over to Rosita and Daryl. Glenn watches as they chat and giggle. "Alright let's go, I can see I have a lot of catching up to do." He laughs.

Daryl lights up the spliff in his pocket and the three of them begin walking over to his house. Abe looks out of the bedroom window and watches as Daryl and Glenn's flashlight slowly fade away up the block in to the night. Abe starts to worry that Rosita is telling them about their argument from a few minutes earlier.

They finally reach the front door; Daryl opens the screen door then turns the knob of the front door only to realize that it's locked. He turns to Rosita who still giggling quietly from the joke Glenn told seconds earlier. He says, "Hold this flashlight while I get the key." Daryl hands her the flashlight while Glenn keeps an eye out for any potential threats that maybe creeping around the area.

Daryl finally finds the correct key to the front door and just as he is about to insert the key Michonne looks through the two small pane windows in the front door. She sees Daryl, Rosita and Glenn trying to get in, so she unlocks the front door. Right away she smells the weed smoke coming off the clothing of all three. She starts to smile and snickers, "The three of you are a mess. Get in here before some roaming herd of walkers hear the three of you giggling."

The three stumble in to the living room while she closes and locks the door. Daryl looks around the living room and asks, "What happened to the motion lights?"

Michonne walks to the center of the living room looking at the three of them dubiously. She leans in a little then squints her eyes to get a closer look at the three of their faces. Glenn and Rosita's eyes are glossy and bloodshot red, she looks over at Daryl and says, "I located the circuit breaker and turned off any visible lights from the outside that would attract walkers." Michonne leans back in and looks at Daryl's eyes then laughs, "Man, you guys are really tore up!"

All three start laughing at her comment, She tells them in a parental tone, "Alright, why don't you go in to the dining room and I will heat up something before the cravings kick in."

Michonne goes down to the basement and grabs a few cans of glory greens, 3 cans of tactical bacon in a can and 4 cups of brown rice. Once she comes back upstairs in to the kitchen she puts everything down on to the mid-sized kitchen island then goes in to the dining room to check on the three pot-heads.

She walks through the kitchen into the dinning and notices that Daryl has placed one Brooklyn LED lantern on the mahogany finished dining room table and another one on top of the armoire the corner. She walks over to the table and picks up a bottle of Stolichnaya then notices an unopened pack of cards on the table. Michonne glance at everyone and says with a laugh, "I know that ya'll aren't about to try and play cards are you?"

Rosita comes back with, "Oh, yes the hell we are!"

"But not before we take a couple of shots of Stoli's first", Daryl says while reaching in to the china cabinet for shot glasses.

Daryl places four shot glasses on the table. Michonne looks over at Daryl and Glenn, "I know you don't expect me to do that?"

Glenn giggles, "Why not?"

"Because I don't have enough weight on me to sustain straight alcohol, didn't you hear about what I did during the surgery on my leg last month?" She says.

"You know that was completely different this ain't even close to 151%. You know that." Daryl says discrediting her excuse. "Besides, I think that everybody here could use a couple of hours of r &amp; r, I mean...I would like to have some good memories where I had a laugh or two instead of what most of my memories have been so far…ya' feel me?" He reasons.

Although three out of the four survivors in the dining room were half-baked, everyone knew what Daryl was saying or better yet…they could feel what he was saying.

Michonne picks up one of the shot glasses and it has, "_Life's a bitch!_" written on it. While gazing at the shot glass, the words remind her of the hip hop album "illmatic",

_"Life's a bitch and then you die_

_That's why we get high_

_Cause you never know when you're gonna go"_

Once everyone has a full shot glass Glenn looks over at Daryl, who has already lit up an extremely large spliff and says, "Shouldn't we say something before we take the shot?"

Everyone goes silent momentarily because no one has the words that would express everything that all of them have been through the past few years. Until Rosita sees what's on the shot glasses then she says, "How about life's a bitch?" They all look at each in solemn silence because there was no phrase equivalent to describe life as they know it to be so far.

After all four survivors take shots of Stoli's for each fallen comrade since escaping Terminus; Michonne goes back in to the kitchen to cook the rice. She reaches for the one of the gallon jugs of water that's been filled from the rain when she looks over at the kitchen sink with interest. She thinks, "_What are the chances that he had running water, better still running hot water?"_

She walks over to the faucet and turns it on and to her amazement there's running water. She turns the water on an off in complete disbelief that there's running water. Hoping to capitalize on her good fortune she turns the knob for the hot water. She places her hand underneath the water; minute later extremely warm water begins to come out of the faucet.

Daryl gets up from the dining room table leaving Rosita and Glenn talking to one another. He walks in to the kitchen where Michonne is short of giddy over the fact that the house has running hot water. "Damn, he has running water too?" He says with amazement. "That's right; Tero must have had batteries wired to any and everything that needs power including the hot water tank in the basement.

Daryl leans back a bit to see if Rosita and Glenn can hear them, then he looks back at Michonne and says, "Shhh, we don't want everyone to know that we have hot water just yet. The minute we do we may have a riot on our hands."

She looks at him and elbows him in the gut and says, "Did you forget people are gonna take turns during the day watching Judith here." Michonne laughs quietly and starts filling the rice pot with water.

Daryl picks his train of thought back up and says, "Chonne', you said that if we weren't on watch tonight you would take a toke or two so…" Michonne finishes filling the pot up half way then places it on the one of the four burners and pours the rice in the pot.

She pauses at the stove momentarily and considers the fact that Rick will be gone for the evening, the mere thought of her having to be alone for the night after what took place the night before at the truck stop made her feel angry. And it wasn't because Rick wouldn't be there when she went to sleep; what annoyed her most was that she was actually missing him. And if she was missing him when he's only seconds away the thought of him dying was more than she could stand.

So she decides to do the "Maybe" that she told Daryl earlier. "O.k., but just one or two I told you it makes me too paranoid." Daryl gives her a wicked smile then heads down to basement to the grow room.

By the time the rice starts to boil, all four are sitting at the dining room table playing spades. Everyone's pretty wasted; Glenn passes the joint to Michonne while Rosita shuffles the deck.

Rosita looks over at Michonne, "We are in the hole about 500, you ready?" Rosita asks her in a serious tone.

Michonne takes a two hits (of what can only be described as a blunt in rolling papers) then passes it over to Daryl. She looks over at Rosita then laughs, "I'm…so blunted right now."

Rosita tries to hold in her laughter at Michonne's statement but she can't. She bursts in to a loud roar and loses control of deck. The cards fly all over the dining room. Everyone at the table falls on the floor laughing uncontrollably.

After everyone helps to pick up the cards, they sit back down. "O.k., o.k...", Michonne tries to get serious and adds, "…o.k., I'm ready. Wait! I forgot to check on the rice." So she jumps up and runs back in to the kitchen. Once she leaves, The three of them start to laugh again, then Daryl adds in a whispers, "She gets a little paranoid."

A little while later Michonne passes out plates of rice with Glory greens and bacon. Every scent of this "real food" only adds to their high and inebriated state.

The four soldiers sit down at the dining room table completely aware that they're good and stoned but they are in the company of their brothers and sisters in struggle and they've been lucky enough to have a decent meal for once.

In times of war it's said that foot soldiers have to enjoy what they can and where they can. Sitting at a table drinking, laughing, smoking, playing spades and eating is a pleasant and valuable diversion even if it's only meant to last for the night.


	24. Chapter 24: Take me to jail, please!

Rick walks the pathway that leads to his front door. Suddenly, James shines his flashlight over at Rick to see if he was a roaming walker that may have found away in to the block. Once James sees that it's Rick he nods his head then light the rest of his walkway to the front door. Once he reaches the front door to open it he turns to James and yells, "Thanks."

Rick enters the house and places the supplies and weapons on the floor by the front window. He grabs one of wind up flashlights that he threw in the box of supplies earlier then his goes upstairs to check on Jane.

He knocks on the bedroom door and he immediately hear loud sobbing. In a soft voice he says, "Jane?", while opening the door. He sees her curled up in a fetal position on the bed bawling louder, he walks in while panning his flashlight around the room, on the floor are socks and dirty clothes sprawled around the bed.

Jane quickly sits up when she hears Ricks voice, then she opens her arms for him to come over to her so that he can hug her. Rick walks over and sits on the side of the bed, far enough away so that he can easily grab her hands but away far enough so that he can't embrace her. He holds both of her hands and asks, "How are you feeling?"

She moves closer and quickly hugs him around the neck and begins to sob again. In between her sobs she asks, "Where have you been?" Rick removes her arms from his neck gently and tells her, "I have been talking with the group about things we got from the trucker stop." Jane looks at Rick then caresses his beard and says, "That's my man making sure that his people are safe."

Jane leans in to kiss Rick but he jumps from the bed knocking his flashlight on to the floor. He picks it up then without consideration, "Jane look I am really sorry about Jimmy and I am eternally grateful for what you did to keep Judith safe at Terminus, on the road and here but…" he pauses, "But I think I may have given the wrong impression regarding our living situation." He goes on to say, "And I admit that's all of it is my fault."

Jane can see the look on Ricks face and asks already aware of the answer, "You have feeling for someone else?"

Rick quickly walks back over to the side of the bed, "I am so sorry about this." "Then why would you sleep in the same bed with me?" She asks.

He looks down at the bed spread, "When we found this neighborhood, I felt that this place would provide some stability that we were all looking for…at least for a little while. I took advantage of the fact that you would keep Judith out of harm's way while the rest of us kept the neighborhood safe from walkers."

"What about sleeping in the same bed with me then?" she asks. "I guess I was ah…using you as a stand in for someone else. I really wanted to be with…Michonne". He responds to his own shame about why he used her.

Jane gets out of the bed and walks over to the window looking out in to the vast darkness of the backyard. She is silent for a moment as she tries to come up with something that can give her some advantage to his admittance. She finally asks, "Have you said anything to her yet?"

"I have for the most part." He tells her. Jane begins to walk toward him, "Rick, I know that you have feelings for me you can't say what you feel to her because you want me", she says walking over to him. She kneels in front of him on the bed then quickly tries to remove his gun belt in a desperate attempt to change his mind."

Rick pushes her back and says, "I'm sorry but, I think it would be best if you and James stay here and me and my kids should stay elsewhere. Seeing that this is my fault, I see no reason why you should have to relocate. We can find another vacant home in the neighborhood."

Rick walks toward the door but before he leaves he says, "When a group of people decide to make someone a leader…they accept his decisions good or bad. But the leader is the one that has to be strong enough to admit making the wrong decision. I'm sorry." He tells her while closing the bedroom door behind him.

A little while later, Rick is having trouble sleeping on the couch now that he has told Jane the truth regarding his feelings for her and his feelings for Michonne. He no longer feels as though he should be staying there even temporarily. So he grabs knapsack and heads in to the kitchen to gather some of Judith's thing. When goes back in to the living room he puts his gun belt back on and places his python in the holster; he grabs the weapons he came in with and the flashlight but leaves the food and other supplies. He removes the couch from against the in front of the door and walks out of the house and down the street with his flashlight to speak with James.

"James, I think it would be best if you started staying with your sister. The kids and I will find another house to stay in." Rick tells him then begins to walk up the block before James can object.

Glenn looks at Rosita with a smile of disgust on his face as she tauntingly shakes her head at him with the big joker stuck to her forehead when they hear something at the front door. All four become quiet, Michonne grabs her sword in the corner of the dining room, Glenn grabs his machete on the floor, and Daryl grabs his crossbow from around the chair. As the four of them rise they realize whomever it is at the front door has a key so they begin to relax.

Daryl walks in to the living room with one of the lanterns from the dining and he sees it's Rick. He walks over to him and sees he has a knapsack along almost everything he left with earlier except for the supplies and food.

"Whatcha doing here man, I told you I would watch out for…" Rick interrupts him, "No, it's not that, I told James to stay with Jane to help her grieve."

Daryl looks at Rick trying to decide if that was the real reason he came back over or if he was concerned about him and Michonne sharing the same house. But instead he shrugs his shoulders thinking that it's the weed and vodka making him think like that and goes back in to the dining room. When he comes back in to the dining room he looks at everyone then sits down and playfully says, "Some called the cops on us."

Everyone bursts in to laughter at what Daryl says. "Hell, yea! Please arrest me, any place that has a penal code or judicial system…" Glenn roars, "…I want to go to there! Cause if they got time to worry about me getting fucked up then that means they don't have a problem walkers." Daryl reaches over and high five's Glenn and yells out, "Amen to that."

Michonne gets up and walks in to the living room slightly off balance and sees Rick putting down his weapons and supplies in the corner of the living room. He looks at her and grins, "Having fun?"

Michonne zones out as she gets lost in Rick's amazing smile. After a few seconds she shakes her head trying to sober up some then she leans on the door jamb to the kitchen hoping that it will steady her balance. "What are you doing here Sheriff?" She asks flirting with him a bit.

In the same playful banter Rick answers with, "I got a call about some strange noises coming from this house. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that now, would you?"

Michonne quietly chuckles "No…", and begins to remove her bandana to wrap her locks up in a ponytail. She turns around to go back in to the dining room, "…but if you wait a lil while…I can make sure that you do."

Rick coyly smirks at her tongue and cheek comment then watches as she leaves the living room.

A few minutes later, Glenn comes out of the dining room, ""What's up Rick?" He says with all indication of being drunk. Rick watches as Glenn concentrates on walking through the living room without stumbling. "You alright there Glenn", Rick asks holding back his laughter.

Michonne walks back in to the living room holding everyone's empty plate to ask if Rick was hungry. But sees he's trying to talk with Glenn.

Glenn's reluctant to admit it but he does anyway, "I am little but fucked up" he laughs. Rick laughs and says, "No problem", and then he helps Glenn over to the front door. Rick looks over his shoulder at Michonne and signals that he will be back in a few minutes.

As Rick and Glenn begin to walk out the front door, Michonne walks over to the front door hears Rick asking Glenn about frivolous things that he knows Glenn won't remember in the morning. When Michonne walks back in to the kitchen she peaks in to the dining room and sees Daryl and Rosita talking. They're body language suggests that both parties are enjoying each other's company…a lot, so Michonne goes in to the kitchen to wash the dishes they used earlier.

Rick knocks on the front door of Glenn and Maggie's. Maggie comes down stairs and opens the door, when she opens it she sees her very high and drunk husband.

Glenn's standing next to Rick who is trying to restrain his laughter. Maggie steps aside to let them in, "Well Glenn…," she giggles, "…I hope you had a good time." Rick and Maggie watch as Glenn stagers upstairs.

"Would it be alright if I look in on Carl and Judith?" he asks. She looks at Rick confused that he would even consider that as being a problem, "Of course. They are in the bedroom upstairs next to ours." She tells him.

Rick quietly opens the bedroom door where Carl and Judith are sleeping. Carl is fast asleep with his arm draped around his sister. He observes this display of sibling affection and smiles while gently brushing Carl's hair, then he quietly leaves and closes the door.

Rick comes back down stairs and he sees Maggie with a flashlight, a travel size pack of aspirin and a bottle of water. He looks around the front entrance and asks, "Are you guys using anything to block the front door?" Maggie smiles at Rick presumption that they would sleep that unprotected and points to the secretary in the corner next to the front door.

Rick suddenly feels embarrassed by his question and says to Maggie, "I'm sorry, I just…" She cuts him off and says, "Its o.k. Rick, I understand."


	25. Chapter 25: It goes without saying

Michonne walks in to the dining room to grab the shot glasses when Rosita realizes that she's washing the dishes. "Michonne, I'm so sorry let me get those for you." She says.

Michonne notices how red-faced Daryl is and responds, "No, sit down. Daryl could use some pleasant conversation."

* * *

Rick comes back in the house and locks the front door behind him. Walking through the living room toward the kitchen; he stands in the doorway and observes Michonne washing the dishes imagining what life would be like living with her in this world or in a normal one under the same roof.

He straightens up right away when he sees Daryl and Rosita coming in to the kitchen, "Hey, if she's ready I can walk Rosita back home." He tells Daryl.

"Na, I was about to let her take another look at the utility closet then over to the shed." Daryl tells him.

Rosita adds, "I used to be shop teacher before…" she adds.

Without hesitation Rick says, "Come on I'll go too."

He walks over to the basement steps with Rosita and Daryl following behind him.

Daryl glances back at Michonne with an annoyed look on his face.

She somberly looks back and shrugs her shoulders knowing that Rick missed the hint in Daryl's decline of him walking Rosita home.

* * *

Rick opens the utility closet to show her the solar battery bank system.

"Wow, this is awesome! These are like industrial sized solar batteries. You would use something like this at warehouse or an industrial plant. One of these could be used to power a store or an apartment building. Tero planned on staying in this place a long time. How many batteries and panels did he have in storage?" Rosita asks.

Rick grabs one of the charged flashlights in the utility closet and says, "Let's go take a look."

In order to get to the basement door they have to walk through the grow room.

Rick walks down the middle aisle of the grow room with Rosita and Daryl behind her.

Rosita strolls through the grown room in awe at how beautiful the plants are. "The smell alone itself gives you a contact", she says under her breath, after taking in a large whiff she quietly utters, "_Estupendo_."

Daryl wickedly smiles at Rosita's comments then returns to watching ass and shapely legs and responds quietly, "Indeed".

With a naughty smile, she looks over her shoulder at Daryl blushes from the cheeky remark.

Daryl and Rosita wanted some privacy but neither one could bring themselves to tell Rick, especially since he was only tagging along because it was pertaining to the business and safety of the group.

* * *

Rosita is trying to follow directly behind Rick with her flashlight when her foot sinks in a mud puddle.

As she yanks her boot out of the mud she says to Rick and Daryl, "Why the hell in it so muddy back here? It hasn't rain in at least two days."

Rick stops; turns around to ask, "What do you mean it hasn't rained in two days? The day before yesterday it rained hard as hell at that truck stop."

Daryl adds, "Hell yea, me and Chonne' thought we were gonna get washed away on that bridge it rained so hard."

Rosita moves her flashlight so it shines it down at the mud puddle she stepped in, "I'm telling you, it didn't rain at all. The sun even came out a few times but it was mostly overcast and not a drop of rain."

They continue on over to the shed, Daryl opens the door and a dim motion light comes on.

He turns to Rosita and says, "Well what do you think?"

She begins to walks over to the shed door and uses it to scrap the excess mud off her boot, before walking inside. "Whoa, this is awesome! With all these extra solar panels, cables and controllers you could have a really nice little set up for the group, provided your able to find some place structurally sound of course."

Rick and Daryl watch as Rosita starts for the door, they grabs a few items then Rick pauses momentarily to ask her, "Why not here? Is there something wrong with this place?"

Right before Rosita walks out she says, "Rick, so far I have been in the company of at least five groups. Out of that, four were militarily trained and the only ones to survive were Abraham and me."

"The world is crumbing around us and the undead are taking over. Buildings and structures only stayed intact because man was there to do the maintenance. Whether you want to believe it or not we're starting from scratch. And unless you are aware of an architect or another engineer with Tero's mind or a kid that built a tree house with his father…we will have to do just like we did before civilization…by trial error."

Rosita's tone was gloomy but real.

* * *

As the three walk back over to the house and Daryl asks, "So why are we just hearing from you now?"

Rosita turns to Daryl, "Even before the outbreak…where I came from women with even modicum of intellect or common sense were considered to be… very unappealing…"

As she continues to walk she adds "…unfortunately, the key to my survival thus far has been my to keep my mouth shut around men."

Daryl hears the sound of a roaming walker on the other side of the fence, he whistles to get Rick's attention then he whispers, "Lil help?"

Rick hears the roaming walker as well so he follows Daryl over to the fence in order to shed light on the walker. Daryl jumps over the fence and kicks the walker to the ground and bashes the walkers head with the shovel he used earlier in that day.

He hops back over the fence and says, "We should probably call it the night for some reason walkers have dog like hearing."

Just as Rick is about to say something Daryl says, "Why don't you go and check on Michonne, I can walk Rosita back. Don't worry about the front door I'll come back through the basement."

Rick finally understands the nature of Daryl request. He smiles at Rosita and says, "Goodnight." He offers his flashlight to Daryl so that he can walk Rosita home but, Daryl pulls one out of the inside pocket of his vest.

* * *

Rick walks back down the basement steps, once he gets upstairs in to the kitchen he sees that Michonne's gone through his bags because all of Judith's sippy cups, spoons and plates have been washed and put in the dish drain.

He walks through the mostly dark living room with the exception of a couple of night lights plugged in various sockets around the room.

Rick reaches the bottom of the stairs that lead to the second floor bedrooms; a warm sensation moves though his body as the faint scent of steamy rose water rolls down the steps.

His heart begins to beat faster as he timidly walks upstairs; the faint smell of steamy rose water as now turned in to a bold and erotic scent of bath water infused with almond oil.

Once on the second floor he opens the door to the master bedroom; its almost completely dark with the exception of a one night light plugged in to a socket by the headboard attached to the bed.

The steamy scent of almond oil floods the second floor as it rushes out of the bedroom; the heavy silence adds to the already mystical and ambrosial vibe.

Rick walks across the room and gently knocks on the master bathroom door.

* * *

Although Michonne's in a near defenseless state; her senses are still pretty acute from the weed, even while in the bath tub.

She hears someone or _something_ has entered the master bedroom.

Michonne learned that the element of surprise when trying to survive is your greatest advantage in this world; she grips the handle of her katana that's lying right next to her leg for immediate access.

"Michonne, can I talk to you for a minute? Are descent?." Rick asks.

She relaxes at the fact that it's Rick however, she's not pleased that he would enter a bedroom unannounced so she tells him, "Yea I'm decent", hoping to embarrass him a bit.

Rick enters the bathroom and quickly notices it too dimly lit with a few lights plugged in to various plug sockets. The one window in the bathroom is covered with a dark drapery.

The entire room tinges with the seductive smell of almond oil and rose water.

He lingers at Michonne as she extends one of her legs from the tub and washes it down from foot to thigh; almost forgetting why he had to speak to her right away. In that instant he gives a muted sigh of thirst at the sight of her luscious gams.

He closes the door behind him, walks over to the toilet and closes the lids to sit down.

* * *

"Damn Grimes, do you have a key to every door in this house", she asks.

"No, Daryl gave me a set of bump keys he found in the shed earlier", he explains.

"So what are you doing here?" she asks while removing her sword from the tub and laying it on the bath rug.

Watching as she places the sword on the bath rug he tells her, "I don't know…" he sighs heavily, "… the minute I walked in that house she started sobbing uncontrollably again. I told her that she needs her brother; I thanked her for helping to keep Judith safe at Terminus. Then, I apologized again for misleading her with regard to the nature of the living arrangement and that me and the kids are gonna find another vacant house to move in to…with you."

Michonne glances at him from the side before placing the washcloth back over her eyes and head.

In a veiled attempt at avoid a response to what Rick's told her, she grumps heavily, "Man, I will never give in to peer pressure ever again. My head is spinning like crazy. The last time I felt this way, I was in undergrad".

The two sit in silence for a moment then Rick says, "That's it, that's all you have to say after what I just told you?"

She remains silent a bit longer then comes back with, "I don't know what you want to hear but, I can tell you how I feel."

He walks over to her and snatches the washcloth from her face, his voice rises a little hoping that she will show any indication that she wants to stay under the same roof with him, "How do you feel about what I just told you?"

She looks up at him surprised at his attitude. "I feel like I was the backup plan in case it didn't work out for you and Jane to be honest. I wasn't your first choice in spite of the fact we both knew that there was definitely something more to _us_."

Even-though Michonne's response wasn't the one he was looking for he accepts it by throwing the soaked washcloth in the bathroom sink and storms out the bathroom.

* * *

In a matter of seconds Michonne instantly feels horrid by the amount of malice that went in to her answer. She hurriedly gets out of the tub; dries off and puts on her cut-off pajama shorts and a half cut off t-shirt, she uses the other half to tie her locs up in a ponytail.

She anxiously leaves the bathroom, "Rick wait...".

As she steps out of the bathroom; she sees Rick sitting at the bottom of the bed pulling his shirt off.

Before she leave the bathroom she reaches her arm back and turns off the bathroom night lights.

Rick places his head deep within his hands; he doesn't even notice that she's out of the tub.

"Rick...I do feel that way but, I didn't mean for it to come out that way. I didn't mean for it to come out with…bitterness" she explains while softly walking towards him.

She stand in front of him then embraces his head to her stomach, massaging the curls in his hair with her finger tips.

The touch of her fingers to Ricks head eases his frustrations, he light begins to rub soft thighs; he asks with all skepticism, "Chonne' why…why would anyone want to have me as a leader?"

She continues stroking his hair and answers with, "People will choose a leader based on his accomplishments, but, people will _follow_ a leader based on his humility."

He listens to her words as he strokes her chestnut legs, the smell of the almond oil on her skin in the perfect aroma therapy he needs in order to hear her voice and her words.

Slowly moving his hand to her inner thigh; he reigniting the high she had from the weed and booze earlier that evening. He moves one of his hands all the way up her thigh and slowly starts to rub her candy button with his thumb causing her to tilt her head back in to a euphoric daze from the growing sensation.

The slow motion of Rick thumb puts her in a languid state of intoxication and desire.

He slowly pulls her pajama shorts and panties down and soon his tongue picks up where his thumb left off.

As soon as his tongue begins to glide over her sex cleft; she gently grips his hair for fear of losing her balance and collapsing to the floor, he uses her arousing moans as guide to the spot for her surrender.

After a few minutes Rick stands up; lifts her shirt over her head, her movements are that of a rag doll cause by the tongue lashing he just gave her.

He softly kisses her lips which breaks her out of the foreplay trance and in to this seductive reality. She wraps her arms around his neck and again runs her fingers through his hair while he wraps his arms around her lower back bringing her breasts to his.

Within seconds Michonne's unbuckling his gun belt with ease (because she has done it a few times), but the kissing never stops, as though the kiss was the most important part.

By the time he gets his past down his tool is ready to impale her to the core.

Rick sits back down on the edge of the bed then steadily holds her hand to guide her on to his iron staff.

The ride is slow, graceful, affectionate and hauntingly rhythmic. It's the complete opposite of what the two of them are used to. There's more kissing and caressing, less thrusting and taunting, less trivial and more meaningful.

This time was much more than primordial; this time it was the conclusion that they'd been avoiding from the moment they met.

* * *

After a her brief ride; Rick skillfully turns to lay her back on to the bed; just before entering her again he leans in for more of soulful lip affection, she reaches for face to pull him in to their kiss.

As their kiss grows ever more personal; Rick tastes the salt water tears that are flowing from her glimmering eyes.

He stops the kiss to console her vulnerable state; Rick already knows why she's crying.

Michonne holds his face inches away from hers and admits, "I know what this is Rick…" the harder she tries to hold her emotions in, the more it shows, "… but, I-I don't think I will ever be able to say it...to you."

He takes his time when entering her slow and deep, hitting a spot within her so that _she_ can hear what _he_ has to say. And right before they go back in to their lip embrace he whispers, "Why bother telling me something that I already know."

Rick and Michonne fall back in to their kiss and continuing making the one word she couldn't bring herself to say.


	26. Chapter 26: The Snowball effect

**5:45a**

James sits on top of the of the wall barricade at the bottom of the cul de sac heavy with remorse over the death of his brother. He knew that he should've stopped trusting Jane a long time ago but, he wanted desperately to keep his family together now that the world had changed so drastically. The only way Jane could control her little brothers was by threatening them. As her obsession for Rick and his children grew so did the seriousness of her threats.

The sun begins to emerge from the horizon; James decides that its time that he goes and talk to Jane to see exactly what she says regarding Jimmy's death. So he climbs down the wall and walks over to the house. When he opens the door he hears Jane in the kitchen. He walks toward the kitchen and stands in the doorway and observes her as she puts away the supplies that Rick left behind. He's startles her when she turns around and sees him standing in the doorway.

"James, you scared me have to death. Aren't you on guard duty?" She asks.

My shift is almost over, the sun is coming up." He tells her.

"Oh, I hadn't noticed. The past couple of days have been a blur." She says in a somber tone.

He walks in to the kitchen and sits down at the table, "Do you want something to eat?" She asks.

"No, I want you to tell me what happened to our brother in the drug store." He says with all bitterness.

Jane turns back around and continues putting the supplies and food away, "I told you…there were a couple of walkers that snuck up on him."

He watches as she puts the supplies away and says, "You sure that's what happened? You didn't push him in to walkers just to save yourself."

Jane turns around stunned at his accusation and says, "Do you really think that I would do something so horrid as to push my own brother in to walkers just to save myself?"

James walks over to her and grabs her arm, she tries to yank her arm away because she knows what he's looking for. When he lifts her arm he sees a large bandage with dried blood that has seeped through sometime earlier. He rips the bandage off only to find that she has resorted to long vertical cuts down her side instead of short horizontal ones under her arm.

He backs away from her slowly shaking his head; tears are rolling down his face as he realizes that she must have had something to do with Jimmy's death. She quickly grabs the bandage from his hand and places it back on the cut. "I told you it was a nightmare seeing how they ripped him apart!" She yells.

James shakes his head in disbelief while saying, "I won't help you, I won't help you destroy these people anymore. These are decent people trying to survive. They saved us from Terminus, they trust us…", he pauses and looks at her with contempt, "...but I don't trust you anymore."

Jane looks at him with a eerie hollow darkness in her eyes and says, "You still owe me James, you still owe me."

"I don't owe you a fucking think!" he screams, "We're even you sick bitch! We're even!"

Just as he's about to head toward the front door she runs in to the living room she yells "I'll tell them!" James looks back at her as she says, "I'll tell Rick or Daryl or Michonne' and they will kill on the spot! They would never believe that I had anything to do with that attack on Michonne'. You and Jimmy were the odd men of the group, you never spoke to anyone, you never tried to connect with any of these people. I, on the other hand, know everyone. I have a rapport with these people they trust me. When I finish telling them about what you did they will condemn you and not think twice about it. The only thing they'll think is that you, Jimmy and Eugene were a couple of perverts looking to take advantage of the only self-sufficient female that moves about on her own."

James looks back his half-sister; he sees the vengeful hate in her eyes and on her face as she says "I told you, you will never be free of me until I say we're even. Now go and pack you shit and get back down here."

James leaves the house and slams the door behind. He stands still for a moment trying to come up with a plan to get from under his sisters grip. But he immediately becomesfrustrated. It was always Jane that came up with a plan or scheme that would benefit them (but mostly her) in the long run. Now that he has told her where his loyalties lie it was only a matter of time before she got rid of him as well.

**6:30a**

Maggie's in the kitchen feeding Judith when Carl walks in and tells her, "Hey, I am gonna go see Michonne', maybe I can help her get ready for the dispersing of the supplies to the neighborhood."

Maggie looks at him and says, "Ah…o.k. let me grab Judith and I will watch walk up the block."

"I'll be alright Maggie, I have my gun and it's loaded." Carl reminds her.

She smiles at him because he doesn't to want to be treated like a little kid but, the fact that he still relies on his gun as a first defense for few walkers confirms that he is still a kid.

"Carl, it's always good to carry you gun but remember if you shoot your gun off in the block you will attract walkers. Gun shot noise travels, you know that. So until you are capable of protecting yourself against a few walkers without a gun I have to watch up walk up the block. Especially since it so early in the morning", she tells him while grabbing Judith.

Carl walks out the front door walking towards Daryl's house while Maggie and Judith watch him from the front porch. As he walks further away she says, "Carl, make sure to tap the windows for walker before going in." Carl shakes his head and keeps walking.

**7:00a**

"Daryl!…Daryl, why does everybody in the world have set of bump keys except me?" Michonne yells at Daryl as he walks toward the shed. He turns around and walks back over to the patio deck where Michonne's standing waiting for an answer. With a smirk on his face he tells her, "Rick said not to give you a set cause he doesn't want you to go and kill that ass hole next door."

She suck her teeth then tells him, "I wasn't gonna kill him…I was just gonna cut his balls off. Castration never killed anybody." Daryl laughs and keeps walking toward the shed while chuckling to himself, "The way you would do it, it just might."

Michonne turns back around and walks back in to the kitchen, Carl is sitting at the table eating some bacon and powdered eggs trying to hold in his laughter. She cuts her eyes at Carl and grins at him, "It's not funny."

She sits back down to finish eating her oatmeal, "So what are you missing this morning, I know the one I have is better than yours", she teases.

He finishes the last of his breakfast and puts his fork down; takes a sip of water then he says, "Snowballs." Michonne looks at him and says, Ahh...snowballs."

Carl comes back with "Yep, on a hot summer day me and my mom would walk over to the snowball stand and get a couple of snowballs. Just looking at the way they would scoop the ice up watching it get bigger and bigger then dumping it in to that paper cone…" Carl sighs, "… on a hot day it was the best."

"Well, I miss lazy days", she says while grabbing the plates off the table, "...when you could just lay around and…" Michonne catches herself before she says something x-rated, "…and do anything you wanted to. You could go swimming or read a book. You know do whatever you wanted."

Before Carl got there that morning, Michonne was trying to imagine what it would be like to have a lazy day with Rick. No walker threats, no people threats just a quiet peaceful day. After her confession to him last night she began to warm to the idea of the two them being a couple.

While she's washing the dishes she looks over her shoulder to look at Carl when she sees a barbered and well-rested Rick standing in the doorway grinning at her somewhat censored answer. He joins the conversation with, "Yep, I miss those kinds of days too, when you could just lie around and..." he makes an awkward pause then continues with, "…read or nap in the middle of the day. No pressing issues to address."

Carl turns around surprised to see his father standing behind him, "Hi Dad, what are you doing here?"

Rick's a bit unprepared to answer his son but he decides to come clean about his feelings for Michonne while the three of them are in the same room.

Michonne gets a nervous and announces, "I should probably start moving the supplies on to the front lawn."

"No, Chonne' just hold on, I want you here." Rick says while taking a seat at the table. "Carl, I spent the night here…with Michonne'. You were right, the four of us should be under the same roof", he looks over at her and smiles with much affection, "So later onto day you and I are going to find another vacant house, for all of us."

Carl looks over at Michonne with the smile of a child opening presents on Christmas day. He looks at his father and says, "Really?" Rick smiles and nods his head yes. Carl jumps out of his seat and hugs his father, then he quickly runs over to Michonne and hugs her as well.

Rick gets out of his seat, walks over to the Michonne as she's hugging Carl. He kisses her for the first time in front of Carl then he looks down and kisses the top of Carl's head.

Michonne smiles at Rick but he sees traces of uncertainty. He kisses her again; and asks her for confirmation, 'You want this too, right?"

She looks at him unable to hold back her tears and says, "Yes."

**7:45a**

James is about to leave the house that he, Rosita and Abe shared with his belongings. Rosita's coming out of the kitchen when she sees James going for the front door with his stuff.

"James where are you going?" she asks with trepidation.

He turns around and tells her regretfully, "I'm sorry Rosita; I gotta go to stay with my sister. She's really handling Jimmy's death bad…I should be with her."

She walks over to James and grabs his arm, "Well, maybe I could go with you to help", she says with anxiety and fear. She then whispers in a trembling voice, "I can't be left here alone with him."

Abe stands at the top of the steps and watches as Rosita pleads with James to stay and says, "Rosita, I need to talk to you for a minute?"

James looks up at the stairs at Abe then back down at Rosita. He sighs painfully and says, "I'm sorry Rosita but I have to go…" he leans over and gives her a hug then whispers in her ear, "You should get out of this house too." He lets her go and walks out the door for his sister's house.

Rosita gets upstairs stands in Abe's bedroom doorway, "What's up?" she asks. He yanks her in to the room and slams the door shut. "What did you tell Daryl and Glenn last night?" "I told them we were arguing over how to use the supplies" she answers.

He slowly walks closer to her and asks, "What else?"

Rosita starts to back away seeing the temper in his eyes and whispers in terror, "Nothing, nothing."

"If anyone in this block ever finds out that Jane and Judith come to visit me now and again, I'll know it was you. You saw what I did to that the last group that raped my daughters and made my wife and son watch. You know that's why family ran away from me." He finally backs her up against the bedroom wall and gently grabs her neck slowly squeezing it enough to make it difficult for her to breath, "I will have those kids and Jane, I will have a family again." he tells her.

Abe finally releases her neck and she begins to cough and catch her breath, "And don't even think about moving anywhere else or the next time we are out of the road I won't be so inclined to save ass from walkers", He tells her while leaving the room.

**9:00a**

"Before we get started with passing out these supplies, I wanted to let everyone know that we lost some people over the last two days. We lost Jimmy and Tero while out on a supply run." Rick announces.

The survivors in the block gasp, the older ones begin to cry because they had known Tero long before the outbreak.

Carl catches the eye of a young girl with ponytails standing next to her statuesque mother. The young girl quickly hugs the young woman out of the sorrow she hears as the loss of their neighbor Tero. When the little girl catches the eye of Carl, he quickly takes a step back trying to hide behind Michonne.

A voice comes out of the crowd and says, "Ever since you and your motley group came here we have had nothing but problems! We were making it just fine before you showed up. Since you been here our block was nearly over run by walkers and now suddenly the smartest man on the block is killed; and now your people are moving in to Tero's house. How do you think that looks to us?" The voice from in the crowd states.

Sasha, Bob, Michonne, Daryl, Rick, Abe and Carl, try to locate the voice making the accusations. Then Daryl and Michonne see it the man that lives next walking up to the front of the line, "It sounds like foul play to me." he says.

The neighborhood survivors all begin to agree with the next door neighbor openly. Rick motions for the crowd to lower their voices and says to the elderly gentleman, "Excuse me, who are you?"

"My name is Ed. Me and the rest of the true homeowners in this block think its best that you and your, '_maledetto gruppo familiare_' leave before you end up getting more people killed or before on e of you end up killing one of us like what happened with Tero and Jimmy." Ed says.

Daryl rushes from behind the supply set up to stomp Ed to the ground but, Ed pulls out his Glock 17 stopping Daryl in his pursuit. This instantly causes Rick and his people to draw their weapons on Ed.

Ed continues to hold his target at Daryl and says, "You may kill me but I know that you need your redneck. So why don't we just put are weapons away and save them for the true threat…what do you say?"

Everyone calmly puts their weapons away. Ed adds, "Besides most of us have, rice, spam, canned foods we are just here for the chips, pretzels and booze."

Bob gets upset and says, "You mean to tell me that everyone in this block has had food all along while we shared whatever we had with all of you? Sometimes we would only eat one a day because we were busy sharing what we had."

"Hey, we are just trying to survive." Ed laughs.

Rick and his people stood in shock at the selfishness of the natives to the cul de sac. He rubs his eyes trying to hold in his first impulse. He looks at them and shakes his head, "Fine, take as much booze as you like. Just know that this will be the last time we will be helping you out. Our people need a surplus as much as the rest of you."

Rick walks over to Ed, "We won't be leaving until we are ready, so it would be best that you keep your people away from mine and I will make sure my people don't bother yours." Rick looks Ed in the eye with all the hate he has for this nightmare world and says, "If anything and I mean anything happens to any of my people because of you and your band of selfish assholes I will kill you…nobody else…just you." Then he turns and walks back in to the Daryl's house.

**10:30a**

Carl, Michonne, Daryl, Abe and Sasha start moving the left over supplies back in to the house. They pile all the supplies in the living room.

Before Sasha goes back outside to help bring more supplies in Rick pulls her to the side, "Sasha where are you on the thing we talked about last night" he asks. "Well, Tyreese and Glenn are on watch all day today, me and Michonne tonight then Maggie and James on the wall during the day tomorrow" she tells him. "Good. We are gonna make that run tomorrow."

Rick begins to walk away when Sasha grabs his arm, "What's going on? Why tomorrow?"

He shakes his head then says to Sasha, "Keep this to yourself but…something is wrong, very wrong."

She asks, "What, because of that confrontation with Ed earlier?"

"Yea, but it's something else I don't know what but it's more serious than that." He confesses.

Sasha never questioned Rick's judgment ever since he brought her and the others from Woodbury after the first incident with the Governor and she didn't feel like starting now. So she agrees to keep his concerns to herself and goes back to bring the supplies back in to the house.

Daryl is bringing more supplies back in to the living room when Rick calls him over to the dining room to speak with him privately.

The two get in to the dining room when Daryl looks at him and says, "What's up?"

"Look, me the kids and Michonne are gonna find another vacant house to hold up in." Rick tells him.

Daryl looks at him in shock, "Rick, what the fuck is up with you man? I told you last night that all of you can stay here. You know last night I had a feeling that you had an issue with me and Chonne' staying under the same roof but I shrugged it off chalking up to the weed and booze but, now I am starting feel like you really have a problem with me being alone with her." He tells him.

Rick affirms, "Alright, I admit that it crossed my mind once or twice but, that's not the case now. After I saw you with Rosita last night I just thought…"

Daryl cuts him off, "So you just think I'm gonna throw my people out because a female batted her eyelashes at me. Shit man, that's what you think of me?" Daryl paces the dining room then turns back around to Rick and in a loud whisper he says, "I'm not Shane man, I wouldn't do shit like that. Damn! You call me your brother then you think of me putting the moves to your woman?"

Rick is stunned by Daryl's statement and says, "Why would you say that Michonne is my woman?"

Daryl turns back around and looks at Rick dumbfounded, "Did you really think I didn't know what was going on with the you and Chonne'? I am observant Rick, I always knew there was something there before either one of you knew it."

Daryl takes a few steps away then turns back around, "Look, I knew exactly what I was saying last night. I want the four of you here in this house with me. In fact I would rather have all of us under the same roof. But, this place isn't big enough to hold everybody. But I would feel better knowing that the kids were here under the same roof with you or me, or Michonne or Maggie, Tyreese…we are all too far apart right know that makes us vulnerable." Daryl explains

Rick is relieved that Daryl feels the same way. "I couldn't agree with you more, which is why I want to start moving these supplies to the bar tomorrow." Rick watches as the others are about to enter the house with more stuff, "There's something not right about this place, I can't put my finger on it but we can't stay much longer and it's not because of the incident with Ed…it's something else", he tells Daryl.

Daryl agrees, "Alright then, we'll leave for the spot early tomorrow morning, better yet we should leave in the middle of the night." Before Daryl leaves the dining room he says to Rick, "I really want you guys to stay here. I function out there better knowing that my people…my family are safe." Daryl turns to look at Rick and Rick nods his head in agreement that they will stay.

**11:30a**

The sun is slowly vanishing and overcast is quickly dominating the skies. Sasha has left to go and get some sleep for her watch tonight and Daryl goes down to talk with Glenn about the urgent run to the truck stop.

Rick and Carl are in the backyard by the over grown garden. Rick is uncertain about why he feels the way that he does but, he feels the need to talk to Carl alone.

"Carl…I have a feeling that there's something wrong with this place and we are going to need to get out of here sooner than I expected." Rick tells him.

Carl asks, "Is it because of that Ed guy?" "A little bit but, for some reason he is merely a distraction. Something we can't see just yet." Rick kneels down and tells him, "I'll be going on a run in the middle of the night tonight. Michonne and Sasha will be on watch. So I am gonna have you, Judith, Maggie and Bob stay here until I get back. I'm taking Glenn, Ty and Daryl with me so Ty and Glenn will know where to go in case of an emergency and hopefully Daryl can start up on of the mac trucks so we can clean out the shed." Rick grabs his son's arm and says, "I know I told you you're a man, but…you haven't been in that roll very long. I am expecting you to listen to Maggie, Michonne, Bob and any adult in our group within in reason. These are the people that I know would give their lives for the sake of you and Judith. Whatever they say or tell you to do is only gonna be in the interests of keep you and your sister safe. I want you to keep that fact in mind while I am gone, alright?"

Still ever the kid Carl hears his father but he also hears that they would be staying in the coolest house on the block. "So we are gonna start staying here?" Carl says with excitement. Although Rick had hoped Carl listened to what he just told him he didn't want to damper his excitement, "Yea, Daryl prefers that that the four of use stay here."

Carl blurts outs, "Yes!" When he sees Michonne walking toward them Carl blurts out, "We're gonna stay here in Daryl' place!" She looks at Carl then at Rick and says, "Oh, o.k. that'll work."

"Carl, I want to you to run down to the street and collect the rest of your stuff and Judith's stuff from Jane's house and bring it back up here." Rick tells him.

Carl leaves the yard to make the run down the street leaving Rick and Michonne alone in the yard. He looks over at Michonne and passes a weak smile. She clearly notices the worry on his face, "There's something wrong isn't it?" she asks, "and it's not that shit that happened with Ed."

Rick loves how the two of them are always in sync with one anothers thoughts. "No, it's something bigger…" Rick reaches down and places his hand in the muddy soil then looks at the over cast in the sky, "Rosita said last night it hasn't rained in at least two days here. But the ground is still soaked. Something tells me we need to get ready to leave in the next few days." He stands up and tells her, "Me, Daryl, Glenn and Ty are gonna start moving stuff to the bar tonight, or as much as we can. Sasha says that you and her are on watch tonight so you keep watch your ass cause you'll be down by few people. If anything, and I mean anything comes up you and Sasha grab Abe, James and Bob. You already know how to get to the truck stop."

Michonne looks at Rick and says, "O.k."

**1:00p**

Daryl decides to knock on Rosita's door to see how she's feeling after last night. When he knocks on the door Rosita opens it up. He sees Rosita and he instantly notices how red her neck is. He angrily asks, "What the hell happened to your neck Rosita?"

She forgot about the bruises on her neck and quickly says, "I was choking on some of those stale pretzels." She says nonchalantly.

Daryl sees Abe coming down the steps, the heat from his anger quickly shows upon his face, then he says in front of Abraham to Rosita, "Well you can always come stay with me there's more than enough room for you."

Abe comes to the door and says, "Why would she want to do that?"

Daryl comes back with, "Maybe she'll be safer with us."

"Now why do you think that?" Abe asks with challenge in his voice.

"I don't know, maybe the army doesn't teach the Heimlich maneuver." Daryl responds.

Rosita sees the tension between the two men and says, "I'm alright, really Daryl." Abe brushes past Daryl and begins to walk down the block. Daryl looks at Rosita and says, "If you change your mind you know where I live."

Daryl is on his way next door when he sees Maggie and Judith leaving the house. The two meet and Daryl greets them with, "Hey lil ass-kicker where are the two of you off to?" he asks.

Maggie looks at Daryl and laughs, "Glenn is still hung over from last night so I'm gonna take over his shift today."

Daryl kneels down at Judith making silly faces, "I knew that he couldn't handle hanging with the big dogs. Is he alright? I need to talk with him real quick?"

"Yea, he's in the kitchen making some soup." Maggie says.

Daryl walks in to Glenn's house and yells, "Glenn, where you at lightweight? I need to talk to you." Glenn comes out of the kitchen and in to the hallway. Glenn whispers, "Yes, I'm in the kitchen but please lower your voice."

Daryl laughs and follows him in to the kitchens.

Glenn sits down at the table and lays his head on the table, "So what's up?"

Daryl sees how hung over Glenn is and decides to make him something greasy to eat. A few minutes later Daryl places a plate of bacon and powdered eggs in front of him. "Eat this man, if you did a lot of throwing up you need something on your stomach even if you do throw it back up." Glenn begins to eat tiny forkfuls of powdered eggs and asks Daryl, "So what's up?"

Meanwhile, Rick is on his way out the door when he sees Maggie coming with Judith. "Hey guys", Ricks says happy to see Judith and Maggie.

Maggie walks up to Rick and says, "Hey, Glenn is still hung over from last night so I am gonna take over his shift today. I was thinking that you or Michonne could watch Judith until this evening."

Michonne walks up to the front the door and sees Maggie handing Judith over to Rick. "Hey Chonne', I have to cover Glenn's watch he's still hung over from last night." She tells her.

Rick looks at Michonne knowing that he was about to go talk to Ty. She takes a deep breath; walks over and grabs Judith from Rick's arms while saying to Judith, "Come on mommy. "I'll keep Judy til you get back." She tells them.

"You sure?" he asks. Michonne looks at Judith as she plays with her locs and smiles, 'Yea, I'm sure."

"Good I'll be back by sun down," Maggie says and runs down the block.

Rick walks Michonne and Judith back in the house, "I'm gonna go and tell Ty the plan for tonight then I'll be back." He tells her.

"Rick it's fine, she looks as though she could use a nap anyway. I could use one as well." She tells him.

"I know. I will need to get some sleep too…" Rick says while kissing Judith on the forehead, "…I'll see you two in a bit."

**2:00p**

Jane knocks on Daryl's front door, Carl opens the door and he looks at Jane with a shocked look on his face as to what she was doing there. "Hey, Whatcha need Jane?"

"I just came by to see Michonne and Judith. You know how seeing Judith makes everybody's day better."

Carl couldn't find too much objection to her reasons for stopping by to see Judith so he lets her in.

Michonne comes out of the kitchen holding Judith's hand as the two walk out. Judith sees Jane and becomes ecstatic and pulls Michonne anxiously over to Jane. Jane embraces her as though she hadn't seen her in weeks. Michonne smiles at how happy Judith is to see Jane.

Jane's face becomes flushed with tears as she embraces Judith. After planting kisses on Judith face she puts her down and walks her over to Carl. "Carl she's probably ready for a nap would you do me a favor and put her to sleep so that I can talk with Michonne for few minutes? She asks. Carl agrees and begins to walk Judith upstairs.

Michonne yells out, "Use the first bedroom at the top of the stairs Carl."

The two women sit down on couch in the living room that's filled with leftover supplies from earlier that morning.

Michonne's not sure what Jane is doing here but she tells her, "Jane I'm sorry to hear about Jimmy how are you doing?"

Jane pulls out a snot rag and begins to sob, "Thank you, I'm trying to get a handle on the reality of Jimmy being gone but…" She gets up and walks over to the mantle to look at the pictures of Tero's family, "…seeing him devoured by those monsters seems to haunt me every time I feel a peaceful moment come about.

Michonne says, "I know the feeling, losing someone to this world never gets any easier."

The two women are silent for a moment, then Jane says, "With all that has happened, I realize that for every loss of life there's hope." Jane turns around to look at Michonne's face then walks back over to the couch; sits down and hold Michonne's hand and says, "I haven't even been able to tell Rick about the good news."

Michonne looks at Jane and is dreading her answer, "What good news?"

"Rick and I are expecting."

**3:00p**

Rick is talking with Ty when he sees Daryl sprinting down the block towards Jane's house. Once Daryl gets there he kicks open then the door and runs upstairs.

Rick and Ty look at each other confused, suddenly they hear Daryl screaming, "You sorry sack of shit! You think you can come in to our group and fucking rape our women!"

By the time Rick and Tyreese reach the front door they see Daryl dragging James down the steps then throws him out the front door knocking Rick and Tyreese to the ground.

Daryl jumps on James and proceeds to punch him repeatedly in the face while saying, "You fucking coward! After everything we did for you!"

Maggie jumps down from the wall and runs over to the fight while Rick and Tyreese try to pull Daryl off of James. "Let me go, get the fuck off of me! I'm gonna kill this asshole!" Daryl yells.

By this time Abe, Tyreese and Rick are pulling Daryl off of James. As they are pulling Daryl off of James he continues to kick him in the stomach.

Glenn is now running down the block because he doesn't understand what he said to make Daryl run out his house so fast.


	27. Chapter 27: The 12 Hour Turn-Around

Jane announces cheerfully, "Isn't that wonderful news." She pulls Michonne up by her arm so she can embrace formally.

Michonne is astonished by what Jane has just told her. For Michonne, it's as though Jane has pushed her backwards off a cliff; arms and legs flailing while she yells down to her, "Isn't that wonderful news!"

While Michonne continues to be stupefied by this revelation, Jane clutches Michonne's hand and places it on her small distended belly. Michonne is completely aghast and speechless during this outer body experience. Jane on the other hand is beaming a hurtful smug smile due to the gratification she feels looking at Michonne's expressionless face.

After orbiting the living room a few times, Michonne manages to come back to reality upon hearing an eruption of voices quickly coming up the front sidewalk toward the house. Jane quickly removes Michonne's hand and pulls her shirt down. "Remember it's a surprise" Jane softly giggles to Michonne.

Rick and Glenn burst in the front door while Rick reiterates to Glenn, "Are you absolutely positive that is what he said?"

"Yea that's what Eugene said, Maggie was…" Glenn stops in mid-sentence.

Rick and Glenn stare at Jane and Michonne in the living room, "Jane what are you doing here?" Rick asks in an irritant tone.

Glenn closes the door behind him, "It doesn't matter. Jane you need to go and say your goodbyes to your other brother." He tells her.

"Why? What's happened? What's wrong?" she asks anxiously, "Did he get bit?"

Rick continues to stare at Jane oddly then he looks at the numbing look on Michonne's face. He walks over to Jane and tells her, "I think you'd better do what Glenn says."

Jane rushes out the front door leaving it wide open and runs down the block.

Rick walks over to Michonne with a puzzling look; grabs her hand and sits her down on the couch. He's upset because she's never told him about what she saw the day Carol died and also because she felt free to tell Daryl before him. But for some reason he knows that something bad has happened since he left her with Judith earlier, something that has left her in state of suspended animation.

Rick starts with a low but restrained tone, "Michonne, Daryl said that you saw something the day that Carol got bit"; He takes a deep breath and continues, "You really need to tell me what you saw out in the field that day."

Glenn jumps in and says, "No wait, let me tell her what Eugene told me and Maggie first."

Rick agrees and Glenn explains how Eugene was running down the block with him and Maggie to help kill off the herd because Michonne had been attacked the other night. And how once the three of them had gotten to the weapons crate; he recalls the strange look on Jimmy's face after Maggie questioned him about Michonne being attacked.

Once Glenn finishes telling Michonne about Eugene and Jimmy he says, "Now Michonne, what did you see out in the field?"

Just as Michonne is about to speak she feels the sudden urge to vomit. She quickly lifts her hand to her mouth; gets up and runs to the kitchen sink. Rick and Glenn run in to the kitchen behind her.

After she vomits, Michonne rests her arm and head on the sink. Rick asks, "You o.k.?" he carefully places his hand on her back but Michonne abruptly stands up; at the same time jerking her shoulder with attitude in order to remove Rick's hand from her back. Right before Rick is about to catch the same attitude as hers, Glenn blurts out, "Michonne' what happened that day? What did you see?"

She stands up in front of the kitchen sink and says, "I didn't say anything because at the time what I saw just wasn't enough to assign any blame." She opens the cabinet doors under the kitchen sink and grabs a gallon of white vinegar then starts to pour it all around the inside of the sink. As she begins to wash the vomit down the drain she says, "When everybody started moving in to the fields I glanced over at James, Jimmy and Eugene as they were moving out in to the field…", She takes a deep breath and continues with, "…the grass was really high so it was difficult to keep the binoculars in focus but, I saw Jimmy swing his axe in the direction of Eugene's leg causing him to fall to the ground; that's probably why walkers got him. What really made it bizarre was when Tara came running up to Jimmy and started yelling at him."

Rick immediately asks, "What was she yelling about?"

She shrugs her shoulders and says, "I don't know. When I tried to zoom out to get a larger view of what was happening I couldn't see Tara anymore; like she was never there. After that the only people I saw over that way was James and Jimmy killing walkers. The only way I knew that Tara had been there was because I could hear her screaming in the distance."

Rick and Glenn stood in silence for a moment then Glenn stands up declares, "Well that's it, James is a dead man, I only wish that Jimmy and Eugene were still alive so they could die with him." Glenn rushes out the kitchen.

Rick follows him in to the living room and asks, "Hold on Glenn where are you going?"

"Rick, me and Maggie can't stay here knowing there is a rapist maybe even a murderer in the group! He's got to go!" Glenn tells him.

"Hold on, this is Michonne's call." Rick says. He leans his head slightly back to look at Michonne who sitting at the table still looking very detached from the day's events so far. "Look, let me talk to Michonne first, James's is gone for good either way whether we kill him or not. But we should find out what she wants to do first then we move from there."

Glenn reluctantly agrees and goes back down the block.

Rick walks back in to the kitchen to sits down at the table with Michonne, "So, what do you want to do?" he asks.

Michonne automatically changes the subject with, "Why did you change your mind last night about staying with Jane until she was finished grieving?"

Rick looks at her oddly and says, "Because she was all over the place, she kept grabbing at me and calling her man. What does this have to do with what's going on right now? What's going on with you?"

Michonne stares at Rick hoping for a visual affirmation and asks, "Are you sure that's the only reason?"

Rick looks at her angrily and says, "Yes, that's why? What the hell is this? Is there something I need to know, Chonne'?"

She rubs her hand on her legs trying to restrain her emotions, "Rick…just tell me this, did you at any time, anytime have sex with her?" she asks.

He looks at her in horror and says, "No, absolutely not. Why would you even ask me that?"

Michonne gets up and walks over to the kitchen sink, quickly trying to decide if she should tell him that Jane's pregnant or not.

With more sternness in his voice he asks again, "why would you even ask that, Michonne'?" She looks at him and regrettably tells him "Jane told me she's pregnant Rick. She said that with everything that has happened over the past few days she hasn't had a chance to tell you."

Rick looks at Michonne with absurdity and says, "What?!"

"So you never touched her?" She asks.

"That's right!" He tells her.

"You never shared the same bed with her?" she asks.

Rick looks down at the kitchen floor and pinches the bridge of his nose before going silent. Michonne exhales hopelessly and walks over to the patio window; her body language exudes disappointment.

He stands up and tells her, "I-I did sleep in the same bed with her for a while but there was never anything intimate involved. I never touched her or held her or anything. I just had her there just to…" Michonne turns around sharply and yells, "To what Rick? Was she a place holder for when someone better came along?"

Rick loses his temper and spitefully reminds her, "Why the hell do you even care you're the one who said there no such thing as monogamy in the world, right?"

Michonne dodges his nasty knee jerk remark with, "Who cares about what I said, how will it look to the group if you're just flagrantly going around sticking your dick in every single women in the group? And then you knock'em up too!"

Rick smirks at Michonne's reasoning and chuckles, "I know you don't think for one second that I slept with that girl. You're scared," he tells her. "You're scared about making this in to something more than just…" She cuts him off and injects with, "Someone you enjoy fucking in the shadows."

Pursing his lips together in anger and says, "Take that back Michonne, take it back right now. You know that's not true. You know me better than that. Look I don't know whose kid Jane is carrying but it not mines!"

Rick and Michonne don't even notice that Carl is standing in the kitchen doorway until he blurts out, "That crazy bitch is gonna have a baby?!" When Rick and Michonne see Carl in the doorway, the two of them sigh even harder, "It's not Dad's baby, I know it isn't! He does love her, he loves you not her, she's crazy!" Carl yells.

Rick walks over to Carl and tries to reason with him by saying, "Carl you're right, I'm not the father but it's not that simple what would everyone say about me as a leader if…"

Carl interrupts him while shaking his head no, "You're the leader and you may have to go back and live with her but it's not fair to make me and Judith go back. This is a mess that you created!" Carl squints his eyes hatefully at his father, "I told you a while ago to get rid of Jane and that it should just be the four of us but you never want to listen to me cause, 'I'm just a kid'. No, me and Judith don't have to worry about what everybody else says or thinks, You do. We are staying her with Daryl and Michonne." Carl leaves the kitchen doorway and runs back upstairs and slams the bedroom door.

Rick can't believe how awful this day has turned out to be in just a matter of hours. He turns back around and sees that Michonne has stepped out on to the patio deck. He walks over and stands in the patio doorway looking at the allure and elegance of her neck and body.

He tells her, "You are the most fearless person I have ever met; I've seen you fight dozens of walkers and people. I've never seen you lose hope or be afraid of anything in this strange world so far. Instead of using that same confidence and optimism with our intimate connection, our bond, you'd rather believe that silly ass little girl down the street and the lie she told you.

Michonne begins to feel queasy hearing the truth in Rick's comments. "It doesn't matter now", she says, "We can just go back to the way it was before."

"Oh," Rick says with a quiet yet surprising look on his face, "You mean go back to fucking in the shadows?" He shakes his head, "No, I can't do that, I won't do that anymore. I want all of you Michonne or none of you. Carl was right this was my mistake; it should've been you lying in that bed next to me. I won't be making same mistake twice."

Michonne looks at Rick with defiance at his ultimatum. "Fine, it's over then; from now on it'll be business between you and me nothing more." She tells him; then turns back around to look out at the yard.

Rick had a terrible feeling she would call his bluff; so he walks out on the patio and leans down on the deck railing. The two of them stand out on the deck in silence for a few minutes then Rick asks, "So what do you want to do about James?"

Michonne completely forgot about the James situation. She sighs and says, "Come on, I won't know what to do until I'm face to face with him."


	28. Chapter 28 Sibiling Rivarly

Jane reaches the bottom of the block out of breath when she sees the Tyreese, Sasha, Maggie and Glenn standing like armored guards outside the front door. She becomes a little paranoid because she's not quite sure why they are staring at her. She approaches the house and decides it best to say as little as possible until she finds out what ever body knows so far.

"Is he alright, can I see my brother?" Sasha looks at Maggie while nodding her head, yes. Maggie opens the front door and yells up to Abraham, "Jane's coming up to see him." Maggie nods her head in the direction of the stairs signaling her to go in.

When Jane walks in to the house she sees Rosita in the doorway foyer between the kitchen and the living room looking at her suspiciously. Jane begins to wonder if she may have told someone about the visits she and Judith use to take to see Abraham.

She begins walking up the steps and sees Abraham at the top of the stairs gawking at her with a scheming smile.

"How's he doing?" she asks Abe.

He drools over her with his eye a few times and says, "He's alright, he just got beat up that's all."

"Do they know anything, did he say…anything?" she mouths.

Abraham blinks his eyes and shakes his head no. She breathes a sigh of relief and knocks on the bedroom door, "James it's me can I come in?" she asks gently.

"No!" he yells back.

Jane slowly opens the door and walks in half way and sees James sitting on the edge of the bed with his head in one hand and a shirt held up to his bleeding nose by the other hand. She closes the door behind her and quietly locks it. She sits down next to James on the bed and tries to sooth him by brushing his hair but he moves away from her as though he in repulsed by her touch.

"What's going on James?" she asks coyly.

He looks at her in shock and in aloud whisper his says, "You know what happened? Why would you tell Daryl what I did…why?"

Jane takes a deep breath and lets out a heavy sigh of relief.

He looks at her with surprise and jumps up and asks again, "Why, why would you do that to me?"

"James, I had to say something after you threaten me with telling everybody the truth." She says softly.

She gets up and walks over to him, "I know your ever move before you do", tells him knowingly, "Now, I can fix this for you. I will ask them to allow you to stay with me but, you have to help me. Or would you rather have me convince them that you deserve to die." She gives him a wicked smirk, "Now come here and give your sister a hug."

James is in awe at the levels of depravity that his sister will go through to get what she wants. He slowly goes to embrace his sister deeply one last time and says, "I'm so tired Janie and I'm sorry about your baby but, this has gone on long enough I can't let you take me down and split these people apart in process."

She finally realizes that he's not going to conform; she strokes his hair with all the love a sister normally has for a sibling and decides it time to save herself.

James begins to release his sister but she holds him even tighter and whispers in his ear, "I'd hate to watch you suffer the same way I watched Jimmy."

In a fit of uncontrollable rage, he drops the shirt he was hold to his nose and begins to choke her. The two of them fall on to the bed. While they struggle, Jane knocks his knapsack and weapons to the floor making a loud crashing noise. Despite the fact that James is on top of his sister trying to choke her to death, she tries to unbutton her pants before she goes unconscious.

James looks down at her hands and quickly wonders way her hands aren't around his trying to stop him. Then he sees that she is trying to set him up again, so he removes one of his hands to stop her from unbuttoning her pants as he screams, "No, stop it! No!"

Rick and Michonne walk in to Jane's house when they suddenly hear a crash upstairs.

Bob was in Jane's kitchen dressing the wounds on Daryl's hand when they hear a crashing noise and screaming coming from upstairs.

Rick, Michonne Daryl and Bob come rushing upstairs; they see that Abraham's about to kick the door in. Once he does he sees James on top of his sister with one hand around her neck and the other on the button of her pants.

Abraham knees James in the face knocking him to the floor while Daryl and Bob help Jane up off the bed, "Good God man you are off your rocker! You would try to rape your own sister!" Abraham yells.

"You should've just let me kill the som' bitch when I had the chance!" Daryl yells.

Jane catches her breath then runs over to Rick; he looks over at James in disgust as she wraps her arms around his neck. Rick embraces her momentarily to calm her down. Then Jane looks over Rick's shoulder at Michonne with the face of a helpless victim.

Michonne sees the face of Jane and feels the disappoint deep in the bottom of her stomach as she suddenly understands that Rick will have to take her under his wing because she is just too weak. Michonne rolls her eyes and goes back down stairs.

Rick peels Jane's arms off of him, and tells Abraham and Daryl to gather James stuff and bring him down stairs.

Abe drags James out of the house and places him on his knees. Once everyone is outside, Rick motions to Michonne to follow him away from the group. "So what do you want to do?" Rick asks.

Michonne's conflicted over her decision; she could execute him but, the crime committed wasn't on his own and it was attempted the lawyer in her knew that the crime didn't the punishment of execution. While she is considering all the variables she looks over at Jane and sees her sobbing. Even though she knew that this woman was a problem she couldn't bring herself to execute her last blood relative in front of her eyes.

"Kick him out the group." She says half-heartedly.

Rick looks at her and nods his head in agreement then the two of them walk back over to the group.

"Rick please don't kill him, he's all the family I have left! I will keep a watch on him he won't bother anyone please don't kill him!" Jane yells and weeps at the same time.

Michonne looks over at Jane and says, "Pack his shit, give him supplies and put him out."

Although everyone in the group felt that he deserved to be executed, they were also glad that she didn't. Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Maggie had been through this same scenario before. Rick walks over to James and looks him dead in the eye, "You will never find a group that were as kind to as ours." Rick turns around and announces, "Orders from here on out if any of you see James within in 50 yards of our neighborhood or any of our people orders are shoot to kill. Everyone agree with that?" Rick says loudly.

"You should just kill him now," Jane says in horror, "He will never make out there on his own. Please let him stay, if he can't stay just kill him now…just kill him now!" Jane turns to Sasha and begins to cry in to her shoulders.

James looks up at Michonne with a look of gratitude. He sees banishment as the key out this prison with his sister warden. "Fine I'll leave, you'll never see me again." He says while grabbing his knapsack and weapons.

Jane runs over and hugs him and whispers in his ear, "I told you, you will never be free of me." She quickly pulls the python out of Rick gun holster and aims to shoot at her brother but, James instantly raises her arm so that the gun goes off in the air. "I'd rather see you dead, then to have you suffer out there all alone." She says in hysterics.

Everyone's looks at her in shock and confusion because they just saw her pleading for his life. James looks at her with a hateful grin.

Glenn and Bob start to escort James to the barricade but James stops turns back around and walks over to Michonne. This causes everyone to place their hands on their weapons but Michonne waves her hand for everyone to stand down.

Right behind Michonne is Rosita, Abraham gradually walks up behind Rosita with his hand on the trigger signally to James that he would kill her depending on what he say's to Michonne.

He sees Abraham; looks at Rosita who has tears in her eyes. He looks at Michonne and says, "I'm sorry for what I did."

Michonne looks at him with absurdity and pauses then, quickly elbows him to the jaw knocking him to the ground. James tongues his mouth and spits out two of his back teeth. Before anyone could stop her She starts to kick and stomp him while he's down on the ground.

Rick and Tyreese immediately grab Michonne and pull her away, "Get off me! Get off me damn it!" she screams.

"Glenn escort that piece of shit out of here", Rick yells while holding Michonne by her waist.

"With pleasure", Glenn answers.

It starts to drizzle as Glenn and Bob walk James down the barricade. Michonne yanks Ricks arm from her waist, and he lifts his arms in abdication. Rick realizes that a good portion of that yank from her waist had to do with him and this problem with Jane. She furiously glances at Jane then starts back up the block in the drizzling rain.

Everyone begins to disperse due to the rain; Jane watches as Michonne walks up the block. Her body begins to fill with rage and a deep loathing for Michonne. She didn't know if she hated Michonne now because she was merciful; or if she hated her for granting the one thing that she knew James wanted most, freedom.

After bearing witness to James' attack on his own sister, Rick knew that there was something very off about this so called pregnancy of Jane's. He runs over to Sasha and says, "Sasha can you check Jane out tomorrow? These past few days have been pretty hard on her. Maybe give her some type of examination. He watches as Jane goes back in to the house, "A mental and physical one. In other words I wanna know if she's gonna be a problem."

Sasha responds with, "Of course."

Rick walks back over to Jane's house entering in to the living room right behind Abe, "Abraham, maybe you should have Jane stay with you and Rosita from now on. We shouldn't have anyone staying alone in a house by themselves." He tells him.

"Oh yea, sure not a problem; I'll have her pack up her things." He tells Rick with reserved delight.

Rosita sees Daryl walking up the block and runs over to him yelling, "Daryl, wait up."

"What do you want?" he asks with contempt.

"I had no idea about this I wouldn't have ever thought James would be capable of doing anything like this, really", she pleads.

Daryl looks her up and down with skepticism and says, "Yea, maybe." And he keeps walking up the block.


	29. Chapter 29: The Joys of being an adult

Michonne walks in the house and in to the basement. She begins to gather tools to be taken to the bar later in the evening. She vigorously looks for a box or a crate to start piling tools in. As she comes back upstairs through the kitchen with a crate full of tools she sees Carl and Judith sitting on the couch in the living room.

"So what happened down there?" Carl asks.

Michonne places the crate on the kitchen floor and says, "Your dad banished him."

"You mean her." Carl corrects her.

Michonne looks at Carl confused, "Jane, you mean he banished Jane right?" Carl says.

She unfurrows her brow and remembers that Carl didn't know about James. So she walks over to Carl and Judith; picks Judith up and all three go in to the kitchen. "No, he banished James. It was James, Jimmy and Eugene that attacked me last month." She tells him.

"Eugene? Really?" he asks, "I always thought of Eugene as being a scaredy cat. He was always afraid to fight walkers."

Michonne sits Judith on the counter, wets her bib with a little bit of water and wipes her face off and says, "Well Carl, for the most part rapists are cowards so he definitely fit the bill."

"So why didn't my Dad send Jane with him?"

Michonne places Judith on the kitchen floor to crawl around; then she pulls out and a can of baked beans. As she opens the can of beans she grabs a pot out of the dish drain. She tells Carl, "It's just like your dad said, it's not that simple."

Rick goes back up the block to Daryl's house. He looks at the front door and decides to go around back to start gathering stuff out of the shed for the run later. Once he reaches the backyard he can see that Daryl is already in the shed getting items ready.

Rick walks through the muddy yard over to the shed and ask, "Hey, your hand alright", Rick asks.

"Yea, its fine," Daryl answers, he stops moving stuff in the shed and tells Rick, "Look, now that we've lost James and Jimmy…maybe you or I should stay here. It feels like we are losing people faster than normal…if there's such thing as normal these days." He continues to move more stuff toward the shed entrance.

"You don't think I should've banished James?" Rick asks.

Daryl shrugs his shoulders and asks, "It was Michonne's decision right?"

Rick shakes his head yes and grabs some items from the shed entrance to take to the car. "I'll stick around here tonight" he says, "You, Tyreese and Glenn go to the spot as soon as possible. See if you can get one of those mac trucks moving. If we can get one of those it'll make it easier to move everything at once."

"Yea, you're probably right about leaving right away…", Daryl says looking at the sky as the rain becomes steady.

After putting the items in the back of the S.U.V, Rick stops to in order to wipe the rain from his face, "We good, You alright?" Daryl asks.

Rick sighs, "I won't know until sometime tomorrow. Ask me again when you get back."

Daryl looks at him puzzled and says, "Alright." He looks in the back of the car, "I can probably get 3 or 4 crates of ammunition in the back, why don't you gather up some of the tools in basement. After I put the crates in I'mma tell Ty and Glenn that we gotta get ready to go."

Rick walks in the house and starts walking toward the kitchen when he hears Michonne talking with Carl.

"It's just like your Dad said, it's not that simple. If Jane is pregnant whether or not Rick is the father is irrelevant. He's the leader of this group; Jane just lost one brother a couple of days ago and the other one was banished today. Your father is not the type of man or leader to send a pregnant woman out in to the world alone no matter what she's done." She explains.

Carl looks at Judith crawling over to him and asks Michonne, "Do you think that he's the father?"

She turns around towards the stove and pours the beans in the pot, and shakes her head no, "But it doesn't matter. He's got an added responsibility now of making sure she's provided for because he is the leader." As she grabs a couple of bowls for the beans she says, "Let's say he stays here then over the next 4-6 weeks Jane begins to show. What do you think the group would say given the fact that he lived with her for at least two months prior to her showing. Or, let's say he tells the group that it's not his kid and everyone believes him. He's still not going to leave Jane to fend for herself."

Once the baked beans start to boil, Michonne turns the burner off and pours some beans in the bowls for Carl and Judith then places the bowls on the table. She opens the silverware drawer grabs some spoons.

"One day you're gonna find out part of becoming an adult is knowing when to make the right decision even when it's the decision you don't really want. As it stands right now, your father has been making decisions that are for his benefit and not the benefit of the group." She tells Carl.

She hands Carl a spoon then picks Judith; smiles at her then says in a motherly voices, "Come here mommy so I can feed you." As she feeds Judith she clarifies, "Rick shouldn't have come after me the other day. That was a job for Daryl or Abe…anybody else except him." She spoons some beans in to Judith's mouth then looks at the disappointment in Carl's face. "Carl," she waits for him to look at her, "…I am not more important than the group. You father holds a responsibility to you and Judith first then, he holds the added responsibility of a leader to the group as a whole, not just one person."

Carl aimlessly pushes the beans around in the bowl and says, "I heard you and my Dad talking out on the deck earlier, sooo does this mean that we have to go back to staying with Jane?"

She looks at Carl cheerfully says, "Of course not, I mean unless that's what he wants. But I certainly want you guys to stay."

"And what about the two of you, I mean you said that you don't believe that it's his kid." Carl says.

Michonne can feel the stinging in her nose as she holds back her tears. She feels the emptiness in the pit of her stomach as she comes to grips with her decision to Rick's ultimatum. Carl looks at with empathy cause he can see the disappointment and sadness in her face and body language.

She swallows her despair whole and with a hidden trembling voice says, "Like I told you, When you're an adult sometimes you have to make decisions that are best for everyone; even though it's not the one you really want." She does another sniffle and gives Judith another spoonful of beans.

After hearing their conversation Rick sits down on the couch closest to the kitchen entrance. He closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose realizing why Michonne decided to end it between the two of them. How she's willing to go without their relationship for the sake of group. He felt sicken by the ultimatum he gave her earlier. It wasn't until now that he understood why she didn't mind going back to the way they were before. At least they would've had _something_ instead of nothing even if that something was only in the shadows.

Michonne started to feel a flood grief enter her chest and she didn't want to openly ball in front of the kids; so she stood up and handed Carl the bowl she was feeding Judith with, "I'm going to put these tools in the car…" She grabs the box of tools and wipes one of the break away tears coming from her eyes with her shoulder, "…then, I'll need to get some sleep for tonight's watch."

"Aren't you gonna eat?" he asks

"No…I am not hungry", Michonne answers in a somber tone.

When Michonne walks out of the kitchen and notices Rick on the couch. She knows that he heard some if not all of their conversation. She closes her eye long and hard; looks down at the box of tools and continues to walk toward the front door.

Rick watches her as she leaves the house then he walks in to the kitchen just as Carl finishes feeding Judy the last of her baked beans. Rick wipes Judy's mouth; picks her up and kisses her chubby cheeks.

Carl looks at his father, "Dad do we have to go back down there? Can't someone else look after Jane?" he asks.

"How about this…' Rick switches Judith to his other arm, "…Let's wait til tomorrow. For now, go see if Daryl needs anymore help with packing up the car for the run. And if then find out where Maggie's gonna stay while Glenn's gone."

Carl places the empty bowls and spoons in the sink; walks over to the patio and watches the rain comes down harder and harder. He opens the patio door then looks at his father, "Dad, she knows that you're not the father of Jane's baby." Then he walks out and shuts the patio door behind him.

Rick gradually walks over to the living room window and watches Michonne as she rearranges the supplies in the back of the truck for maximum space. She's trying to stay under the hatch door to shield her from the rain. Moments later, Carl and Daryl come running in the rain from the backyard with more stuff; they hand it to Michonne to pack in the trunk. He looks at Judith and then raises her arm so that its pointing at Michonne, "Who's that Judy? Who's that? Is that Chonne?" he asks. Judith starts to smile and claps her hands together, "Chonne' I tat tonne" Judith responds.

Michonne shuts the hatch door and runs back in the house. Once she steps inside she shakes the excess rain off of her arms and shoulders then looks over at Rick and Judith in the corner of the living room by the window. She gives the two a gloomy smile and walks over to Judith and kisses her hands.

Rick watches Michonne kiss Judith's hand and begins to say, "Chonne, can we discuss…" Michonne looks down at Judith's little hands and interrupts with, "No, I've listened and spoken way too much today." As she begins to walk over to the stairs, "I'm really, really tired Grimes." She exhales blowing the air out through her cheeks, "I know I should be used to having moments of joy to misery in matter of hours but…I'm not." She slowly stars walking upstairs, "I need to get some rest and get my mind right for my watch tonight."


	30. Chapter 30: Better the devil you know

Once Rick leaves Jane's house Abraham turns to go upstairs to pack Jane's things. When he get to the master bedroom he walks over to the dresser; pulls out each drawer and dumps it on to the bed; walks over to the closet to see if there's a bag of some sort to put Jane's things in. As he searches through the closet he notices the duffel bag that she took on the run to the drug store the day Jimmy died.

While throwing her things in to the bag, Abe notices a white stick as it flies to the floor. When he goes to pick it up he sees it's a pregnancy test that reads positive. Abe instantly grins at the results of the pregnancy test because he knew that he was the father of Jane's baby. So he puts the test in his front shirt pocket; grabs the rest of the items and puts them in the duffel bag then goes downstairs in to the kitchen.

Jane is standing over the stove in complete silence as though she were in complete isolation when Abe walks in.

"Alright Jane it's time to go?" he tells her.

Jane comes out of her stupor and looks at Abe in bewilderment, "Where am I supposed to be going?"

"With me, Rick said that you need to start staying with me and Rosita from now on", he tells her at the same time placing the duffel bag on the kitchen table.

She looks at him with a patronizing smirk and says, "I have absolutely no intentions of going anywhere with you."

Abe pulls the pregnancy stick out of his shirt pocket in order to taunt her.

The smirk on her face disappears as she lunges at him to get the test, "Where did you get that? Why are you going through my things?" she shouts.

Abe does a quick side step as she lunges toward him for the test, "It doesn't matter, I know that's my kid you're carrying", Abe gets directly in her face, "So from now on I you are mine."

"She laughs at his assumption, "You mindless idiot, It's not your baby its Ricks and he is going to come to his senses and come back to live here with me."

Abe's face gets red-hot at her insult, "Really? Do you really think you are going to pawn my kid on Rick? I don't think so. You and I both know that that kid is not Ricks, because Rick doesn't want you. He never wanted you, he always wanted Michonne." With a victorious grin he leans on the kitchen door jamb. "I'm afraid you're the idiot darling." He leans over and grabs her duffel bag and says, "Now, Let's go."

Jane becomes more adamant, "No, I'm not going with you. I-I don't want you! You're a low life pig! I don't want you!" she yells.

Abe becomes enraged by her statement; violently grabs Jane's arm and he tells her in a hushed yet hostile tone, "Look, from now on you will address me in a respectful manner, do you understand me? For some foolish reason you have always felt superior to me. I guess that's because you always thought you were the smartest person in the room. Unfortunately for you the only other people in the room for most of your life were your brothers. Sex is just what it is sweetheart 'sex'. I would never let some inane little crazy girl play me. I knew from the moment that you gave it up to me that you were on a path of self- destruction.

"You were naïve enough to think that you were in control me like you were with James and Jimmy", he gets closer to her face to the point of terrifying her, "Now who else have you told about that baby?"

Jane looks at him in dread because she becomes conscious that she is truly alone now. No brothers to protect her from foul men like Abraham. "I told Michonne earlier today." She tells him with anxiety.

"Good, that's probably why she was so angry with Rick pulling her off of James." He says while forcibly releasing his grip around her arm. "Now if you keep your mouth shut you will get what you want; I will make sure Michonne is out of the picture", he walks back over to the kitchen cabinet to get a cup. He pours some water from one on the gallon jugs of rain water on the kitchen counter, "And then I will take care of Rick."

Jane looks at him distraught and drops to her knees while grabbing his leg and say, "No, please! Don't hurt Rick. I told you I can get rid of him, I know I can."

Abe indignantly shakes his leg knocking her to the floor, "Did you just hear what I told you dumb-ass! I'm not stupid! I knew you had no intention of getting rid of him. I was just watching shit unfold in order to make sure that I didn't get blamed for the attack."

Abe closes his eyes and shakes his head in hostility, "Rick is definitely going down for humiliating in front of his people." Abe walks over to her and he grabs her luscious auburn hair and stands her up, "I'm fucking Sargent Abraham Ford of the United States Marine Corp. Did you really think I was going to let some small town hick sheriff get the best of me?"

Jane begins to pull at his hands on her hair and threatens, "I'll tell Rick everything, about you the attack everything!"

He releases her hair and bursts in to a wicked laugh, "Do you really think anyone is going to believe a word you say now. As far as this group is concerned your as nutty as a fruit cake girl. Besides, I know you won't because you want this baby just as much as me. And you know this is the safest place for right now."

"Jimmy already told me about Terminus; about the force feeding of human flesh…and how much he regretted eating your baby. Given these desperate times and the fact that your brothers didn't know just how sick and deprived Gareth and Mary actually were, a compassionate sister would try to move on. But not you; You elected instead to used it that guilt in order to have more power over two people that you already had power over."

Abe looks at her standing against the wall of the kitchen petrified by his speech, "You got greedy for power….that's usually the down fall for crazy people" He shrugs, "James and Jimmy hated you, but still loved you too much to say it to your face. So I just sat on the sidelines watching you fuck your own brothers over."

"But see, I like that craziness about you. You keep this nightmare of a world interesting." He says smiling and blushing at the same time.

He picks up Jane's bag and looks down at the kitchen floor with nostalgia before leaving the kitchen, "All I wanted was a kid of my own…. from me. My wife had 4 miscarriages that's how we ended up adopting. But...my family left me a year ago because they had no idea of the of the brutality in me when it comes to the down to someone injuring me or my family."

As he begins to walk out the door he finishes with, "A man without a family is not a man at all."

After hearing what Abe says, Jane desperately tries to gain some type of leverage so she says, "Fine, it's just that...I don't want to stay at your place. This place is already baby friendly from Judith, we should stay here; I'm used to this house."

Abraham looks back at her and stares for a minute; then he quietly agrees and continues to the front door and says, "If it keeps the mother of my child happy then we will stay here."

Jane follows him out of the kitchen. He drops her duffel bag on the floor and open to the door to walk out, "Me and Rosita will be back down in a few." Then he shuts the door.

Jane walks back in to the kitchen and sits down. She looks over at the cabinet with her trusted cutting knife but then she looks away. Sitting back in the kitchen chair, she lifts her shirt and begins to rub and talk to her belly, "Well, let's get Michonne out the way first then we'll find to get rid of the Marine and get Rick back."


	31. Chapter 31: Ego trippin'

_**6 weeks later,**_

_"I would love to get in to something 'grimey' with you…I-I promise…I-I don't think I will ever be able to tell you." _

These are the routine phrases that went through Ricks mind whenever he was alone. In this instance he's checking the snares during the wee hours of the morning. He stops in front of one and pinches the bridge of his nose and closes his eyes trying to get her voice out of his head. When he opens them he looks up at the sky; he uses his hand to block the suns reflection coming off of the different shades of gold's, browns, and burgundy color of the autumn leaves. It was turning fall where ever the group was in the Georgia territory.

Rick drops his head as he begins to hear the moans and dragging sounds of a walker in the distance; he quickly and quietly pulls some work gloves out of his pocket; grabs the small game out of the snare then leans up against one of the trees as the walker approaches the area.

He waits behind the tree as the walker begins to pass by him; then he waits a few minutes longer to make sure there aren't any other walkers coming up behind the one that has just past him. He considers killing the walker but he sees that it's walking in the opposite direction of the cul de sac so Rick quietly slips away to check the other snares. After checking the last of the snares he starts heading back to the cul de sac with 6 rabbits and one squirrel in his pouch.

Once he approaches the barricade to the block he sees Tyreese and Abraham on the wall.

"Anything good", Tyreese yells down with an anxious smile.

Rick smiles at him and walks up closer to the gate, "We got a few rabbits and a squirrel. But a couple of the snares were empty."

"Damn, I so hungry I could eat a few rabbits by myself." Tyreese says as Abraham bumps him with his elbow in agreement.

Tyreese and Abraham climb down off the wall in order to open up the barricade.

Abraham asks, "So when's Daryl coming back from hunting?"

Rick walks through the barricade and says, "Uh, he should be coming back sometime tomorrow before it gets dark." He says while helping him move the barricade back in place.

"Listen, I'm goin' to take a walk further back beyond the backyard fence over at Daryl's tomorrow morning. So make sure to get some rest tonight with me gone and Daryl not due till tomorrow at sunset you'll be working with a skeleton crew for a few hours." Rick says. He reaches in his pouch and grabs to rabbits then hands them to Abraham, "Here, Bob and Sasha say that all that salty spam and bacon isn't good for Jane and the baby."

Abraham looks at Rick with surprise, "Oh…alright," Abe looks over at Tyreese, "You don't mind do you?"

Tyreese looks at him with a silly grin, "Come on man, don't insult me like that, of course I don't mind. Anybody that's about to have a kid is a top priority right?" He looks over at Rick for consensus. "If were not fighting to preserve life then what the hell are we fighting to survive?"

Abraham pats Tyreese on his should before he gets on some kind of sermon and says, "Thanks brother" then he starts walking over to Jane's house. As he walks over toward the house his looks down at the two rabbits Rick gave him and all he could feel was resentment and contempt toward Rick, "self-righteous bastard."

Jane opens the door for Abraham letting him in, she saw the rabbit exchange from the window.

Abraham smiles at Jane and her growing belly in her worn sweat pants and one of Abe loose fitting shirts, "Hey, mother to be", and kisses her on the cheek. Every time Abe kissed her she wanted to recoil but she was playing the roll he expected her to…for the time being.

She allows the kiss and closes the door behind him. Looking up stairs quickly to see if Rosita is listening, Jane quietly asks, "So when are you gonna take care of this?"

"Soon", he says, "The timing needs to be right, everyone needs to be relaxed." Don't worry its gonna be sooner than you think."

He throws the dead game in the corner on the floor and plops down on the couch then he pats the seat next to him for Jane to sit on down. Jane walks over and slowly sits down.

Abraham rests his hand on her belly, "My wife could never carry a baby to full term, she kept having miss carriages. She would only last for 4-6 weeks then she would lose it. '

Alarmed by this revelation Jane asks him, "Well what was the problem?"

"We never found out, she took some test but they never found anything." He says.

"Did they test you?" she asks.

"Me? What the hell they gonna test me for I was fine. Besides I've passed every military physical every given to me." He looks over as Jane, "Clearly it must have been her look how far along you are."

Troubled by this brief medical history, Jane gets up off the couch and looks down at Abe, "You need to hurry up and do what you need to do while there's tension between the two of them", then she walks in to the kitchen.

Rosita lays on the floor at the top of the stairs when Jane let Abraham in the door. Once she moved in to the house with Abe six weeks ago, she immediately felt like a third wheel, especially when Jane and Abe tried to speak privately without her hearing.

Tyreese sees Glenn and Sasha coming down the block to take over the morning and afternoon watch.

"So it's my turn to get Judy today right?" Tyreese asks in anticipation.

"Rick chuckles a bit and says, "Yea, your house is the daycare today."

Glenn and Sasha nod and say good morning to Tyreese and Rick and continue to the barricade. When Tyreese is about to veer off to his house he stops to look at Rick, "You know with the way world is now, having a Judith around makes everything seems a little less…" at a loss for words Tyreese goes silent.

Rick looks at Tyreese and places his hand on his shoulder, "Yea…it does. Thanks, to you and Carol."

The two men part ways; Rick turns back around walking up the block and tells Tyreese, "I'll have Carl and Judy come down in a bit."

When Rick reaches the front door he hears aloud roar of laughter and clapping. He opens the door with a confused smile, curious as to what's going on. Once he steps inside he sees Michonne hugging and smiling at Judith.

Carl's standing next to Michonne when he sees his father coming in, "Dad, Judith just crawled backwards down the stairs without any help this time."

Michonne turns around and sees Rick standing in the foyer, "_There's your dad mommy, you gonna go to your daddy? Huh?_" Michonne says to Judith in child-like voice. Judith turns around and reaches for Rick.

Rick quickly removes the gloves from his hands and hands them to Carl along with the pouch. "Wow, Judith you're a brave little girl?" he tells his daughter.

Michonne smiles at Carl; nudges him on the shoulder and says, "Yep, just like her big brother."

Carl's face becomes bright pink as he revels in the compliment.

Rick smiles proudly as Carl reacts to Michonne compliment then he kisses Judith forehead.

However, once Rick and Michonne look at one another they smile briefly forgetting for a second that the nature of their relationship for the past few of weeks has been about the survival of Carl, Judith and the group. Nothing else.

"Carl, why don't you put those gloves in the sink down stairs then get Judith's bag. Tyreese is anxiously waiting to watch Judith today." Rick tells him.

Carl starts walking over to the kitchen toward the basement. Rick adds, "Take whatever you're going to need too, I want you to hang around to keep an eye on Judith, Tyreese is coming off of the night watch so I know he's gonna want to sleep after a while."

Michonne watches as Carl goes over to the basement. Without turning around to address Rick face to face she blurts out, "I'll go rinse out some of her bottles for her bag.", and walks away.

Rick places soft kisses on Judith's face while he watching Michonne walk in to the kitchen. He notices that her locs are still hanging down covering up the nap of her neck.

He was also troubled by the fact that Jane was quite open, according to Sasha about being pregnant and who the father was. So why would Michonne play such a silly game just to get out of a relationship with him. If that is the case then he would have to consider that Michonne was more damaged than he originally thought.

_**XXX**_

Rick stands on the front porch placing the pouch with the dead game around Carl's shoulder and asks, "Do you want me to walk you guys down…" Carl interrupts his father, "Dad!" He smiles with a bit of embarrassment at the question he was about to ask.

Rick kept forgetting that Carl was old enough and able enough to at least take his sister down the block. More and more Carl was reminding his father that he really wasn't a child anymore; he wasn't even an adolescent. Not exactly a full fledge adult but certainly old enough to look after his baby sister.

As Rick stood on the front porch watching his son and daughter walk down the block to Tyreese's house; he suddenly recalls that the only two people that were going to be in the house were him and Michonne. An empty house had been a rare occurrence ever since Daryl announced his "_open door",_ policy and gave everybody in the group a set of bump keys.

Michonne leans her head out of the kitchen making sure that Rick is still standing on the front porch. She was also well aware of the house being empty with the exception of her and Rick. Over the past few weeks her and Rick could easily avoid the awkwardness of their feelings toward one another when other people were in the house. However, with just the two of them she knew that he will want to talk.

She quickly runs through the living and up the stairs; but as she gets to the middle of the stairs she hears the front door close. She looks back down the stairs and sees Rick pursing his lips together and lowering his stare at her because he knew she was trying to avoid talking to him. "I can't do this right now Rick, I have stuff to do." She calls out while rushing up the rest of the steps; closing the master bedroom door behind her.

Rick quickly runs up the steps two at a time; he already knew that this discussion may turn in to an all-out-brawl but, it's been six weeks that the group has known about Jane, her pregnancy and Abraham; so he wants to know why they can't pick up where they left off.

He goes to open the bedroom door but she's already locked it. He bangs on the door twice, "Chonne', open this door, right now", Rick says in a dry and bitter tone.

"No Rick, I'm getting dressed!" she yells from far away in the room.

"Chonne, I swear if you don't unlock this door I am gonna kick it in." He promises.

A few seconds later he hears her unlock the door but she doesn't open it. When he walks he sees her wearing a pair of black skin tight legging and dark blue denim mini skirt and a bra. She walks back over to the bottom of the bed and sits down to finish tying her boots. When she bends over to tie her boots he stares as her copious breasts as they lean heavily against the cups of her bra.

It had been weeks since Rick saw her without a shirt, but they had been estranged long enough that he felt as though he was invading her privacy a bit so he looks away while close the bedroom door, "Could you please put a shirt…" She cuts him off, "Cut it out Grimes", she says already fully annoyed, "What do you want?"

Hearing her tone, he gets agitated as well, "Look, I know we haven't had much time alone to discuss some thangs but, can I ask you something?"

Michonne finishes lacing her boots and grabs her wine colored vest off the bed. She puts on the vest pushing her locs away from her neck and out from underneath the vest. She looks at him then rolls her eyes while buttoning down her vest, "What?" she asks coldly.

"Why would she only tell you that I was the father?" He asks.

Michonne stops right after the second button on her vest leaving the rest of them undone. She drops her jaw appallingly and asks, "So now you think I was lying?"

"That's not what I meant Michonne", he says with a hint of misunderstanding in his voice.

This time _**she**_ clenches her lips together in anger and narrows her eyes at Rick. Michonne grabs her bag and katana by the baseboard of the bed then starts to walk over to the door but, Rick moves in front of her blocking the exit.

"Michonne, wait just listen." He pleads.

"Get out on my way Rick." She angrily pleads back.

Rick gets mad too, "Just hold one Chonne' let me talk to you!"

With restraint, she says through her gritted teeth, "Don't make me hurt you Grimes."

He angrily chuckles once and leans his head directly in to her face and asks, "Oh so now you want to hurt me?"

Michonne reaches for the door knob but Rick grabs her wrist; she drops her bag and katana on the floor and raises her hand to hit him but, he grabs that arm and twists it around her back as though he were subduing a suspect.

He puts both of her hands behind her back and presser her against the door. She turns her head sideways trying to break free of his law enforcement grip. Rick uses one of his legs to spread hers apart; he leans upon her back and whispers, "Why are we going through this Michonne. You always struck me as a pragmatic woman."

He slowly reaches one of his hands around to the front of her and brushes his hand against her exposed belly in an attempt to stop her from trying to break free.

His touch does the trick because she stops trying to break free when she feels his hard-skinned hands on her stomach.

Inches away from licking her earlobe Rick confides, "Every day we're not together is day I'm gonna regret, Michonne. Stop hiding behind your ego."

Rick let's go of her wrists slowly while taking a step back to make sure she doesn't try to swing at him again.

Michonne gradually backups while massaging the circulation back in to her wrists, still looking at him pissed off but also a bit confused after being forced in to listening to what he had to say.

Rick open the bedroom door and right before he walks out of the room he says, "I'm going on a perimeter check."


	32. Chapter 32: Cleansing the blade

_**Hey,**_

_**This lemon shot was choreographed with Kenny Vaughan's "Feels like heaven" in the back ground. Just to give you an idea of the feelings involved between our favorite ZA couple. I strongly urge you to listen to this track. watch?v=EV01dm7q6JQ . I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**_

_**Chapter 32: Cleansing the Blade**_

"I got him!" Maggie shouts. She walks over to the rotting corpse and stomps its knee backwards causing it to fall; then she swings her hatchet down the middle of its skull. Snatching the hatchet out while kicking it to the ground; Maggie turns back around and checks to make sure that Bob and Michonne are alright as the three of them clear the straggling walkers hanging around beyond the cul de sac perimeter. She looks over at Bob who's dispatching a walker with a lead pipe; then she sees a walker trying desperately to grab at Michonne while she trying to pull her katana out of its shoulder.

Out of fear for Michonne's life, Maggie quickly runs over to her screaming, "Michonne no! Let it go!" She watches as Michonne tries to remove her sword but the walker is still trying to grab her. She's lucky that length of her sword was over 24" long.

By the time Maggie is about to reaches her, Michonne manages to pull her sword out and stab the walker through the eye. Angrily she removes her sword and does her sacred chiburui.

Finally reaching her, Maggie places her hands on her knees while trying to catch her breath. Once her breathing slows down she yells, "What the hell was that, why didn't you just let the sword go?!"

Michonne looks at her in shock at the fact she's getting yelled at by Maggie; she shrugs her shoulders and without a hint of doubt on her face she says, "I didn't want to lose my sword."

Outraged by the answer, Maggie yells, "You could've waited until you got another weapon or waited until me or Bob helped you Michonne! Is that damn sword worth more to you than your own life?!"

Maggie sucks her teeth then, looks up at the sky to see how much time they have left before it dark.

Bob slowly walks over to the Maggie and Michonne; he also witnessed Michonne reckless behavior but, Maggie has already said everything that needed to be said. "We better start heading back." Bob tells the two.

The last of the blinding autumn sunlight is just about gone as evening storm clouds begin to cover the skies again as the three of them walk up the block. They've been walking in silence the entire way back. Maggie starts walking ahead of Bob and Michonne veering across the street toward her house.

He watches Maggie walk up the block, "I guess she's still upset." Bob says to Michonne.

Walking a little bit further in silence, Bob decides to asks, "So what happened out there today? Why risk your life for a sword?"

Michonne shakes her head now bothered by the same question and says, "I just didn't want to lose my sword…I've had it since the beginning of the turn. It's saved my life way too many times to even count. "But...", she confesses, "I don't know what happened…I must be tired because the weight didn't feel right today."

They finally make their way up the block, Michonne continues walking as Bob's stops in front of his walkway and says, "You carry yours in your sword just like I used to carry mine in a bottle". He removes his backpack from off his shoulder, "The weight of the past is always the same…heavy." As he opens his front door he looks back at Michonne and says, "You should check your sword maybe it needs some repairs."

Michonne looks at him puzzled as he walks in the house. What did he mean by_, "…check your sword it may need some repairs." _She stood still a second and took his suggestion almost to insult; she unsheathes her katana then takes out her flashlight and acutely examines the blade. There were a ton of scratches and dents on it and the edge was dull.

She pokes her lips out a little and furrowed her eyebrows at the fact that Bob was right. In fact, when she thought about it, she hadn't cleansed her sword since before the fall of the prison. After putting everything back in its rightful place, she starts walking up the block again.

As she walks pasts Glenn and Maggie's, Maggie walks out the house and over to her and calmly says, "Michonne, I didn't mean to yell at you earlier…" she walks closer to her, "I mean…I'm just gonna say it alright? Sometimes you take too many risks out there, unnecessary ones. And…that's not fair to the people that care about you and worry about you?" She tells her.

Michonne grins at Maggie and concedes, "Your right, it was stupid of me. I'm sorry."

Maggie suddenly hugs her tight; Michonne was so stunned by her hug that she wasn't sure about how to respond; so she hugs her back.

"I've already lost Beth and Carol...I don't want to lose you too." Maggie tells her, which makes Michonne hug her more.

_**XXXX**_

When Michonne comes in the house she walks up the steps slowly recalling the embrace from Maggie and how much she missed getting hugs from someone that genuinely cares about her life and well-being. As she reaches the top of the steps she looks down the hall and sees Rick holding Judith trying to put her to sleep. Then she walks in to the bedroom leaving the door slightly cracked.

Rick walks out of the smaller bedroom with Judith in his arms towards the dim light coming from the master bedroom down the hall.

Weeks before, Carl and Judith slept in the master bedroom but, Judith was known to wake up in the middle of the night to be changed so Michonne started sleeping with her in the master bedroom at night; a motherly duty that was robbed from her nearly 3 years ago.

Rick pushes the bedroom door open and gently asks, "Hey, everything go alright today?" Michonne nods yes.

"Listen, I know you're probably tired so do what you need to and I'll put Judy to sleep and bring her in with you later. Carl's reading some comics him and Daryl found in the attic; they're some good ones in there you may want to check out." Rick tells her.

Michonne watches as Judith grabs at Ricks nose and smiles at the two of, "Maybe I will."

_**Later that night,**_

Rick walks into the bedroom ready to lay Judith in the bed with Michonne but, he doesn't see her anywhere. He can smell the soap, rosewater and olive oil coming from the shower, but doesn't see her in there either.

Rick knocks on Carl's door but doesn't get an answer. He gently opens the door and sees Carl sleeping on the tiny twin mattress with his arm dangling over the side of the bed; beneath Carl's fingers are comics spread across the floor.

'Carl, Carl?" Rick whispers.

Carl wakes up a little and starts to rub his eyes, "What wrong?" he asks.

"Nothing, I want you to watch your sister." Rick says laying Judith down between Carl and the wall.

"Well, where's Chonne'" Carl asks half-heartedly while draping his arm over Judith.

She's probably in the kitchen making some tea. Go back to sleep.' He softly says while turning the Brooklyn lantern off.

Rick comes downstairs and in to the kitchen looking for Michonne when he hears a metal scraping sound coming from the basement. He grabs the stationed aluminum bat in the corner of the kitchen and quietly walks down stairs. All the while he's thinking that there is no way possible that a walker got in the house without anyone hearing it.

The scraping noise gets louder as he reaches the bottom of the basement steps, "Chonne'?"

The noise stops, "Yeah it's me." She answers.

Rick cautiously walks closer to the noise and sees two light bulbs dangling from the rafters of the work shop. The light exposes Michonne's silhouette; he tilts his head a little as he walks closer to her; the first thing he notices is that her locs are off her neck and in a ponytail; her legs straddled on each side of the workbench. Intrigued by the room setting Rick asks, "What are you doing?"

"I'm cleansing my blade", she says out of breath, "I can't sleep."

Rick finally gets close enough to see her from behind sitting on the bench wearing an over-sized men's dress shirt. He admires her exposed neck from a distance and repeats, "Cleansing your blade?"

She goes back to cleansing then she stops briefly to catch her breath, "It means to sharpen your blade, to remove the impurities, the scratches and dents; so that its effective", she pauses, "It means to remove the past wounds from your sword."

Rick shakes his head acknowledging the metaphor. "Do you want any help with that…cleansing your blade?" he asks her carefully.

Judging from the defensive vibe he's getting from her; Rick thinks she's still upset over his actions from this morning. So he turns around to walk back upstairs believing she's going to say "No", when he hears, "Actually…I do."

Michonne takes a deep breath while dropping her shoulders; she places the water stone next to her katana on the workbench; then cautiously removes the work gloves from her hands and begins to walk towards Rick.

Rick turns around upon hearing part of her answer; as she begins to walk closer to him. She admits to Rick, "You were right earlier this morning. My past or my ego rather, almost got me killed today. Sort of similar to my sword…if I don't remove the impurities, the scratches and dents…if I don't remove my past from my present…", standing in front of Rick she lets out a deep exhale then looks at the light reflecting in his cobalt eyes, "I won't be effective to anyone."

Rick looks at her with total adoration, her taking the time to explain her actions means she feels bad about how she's be acting toward him these past six weeks.

"I'm sorry." She tells him.

Rick gingerly tugs at the front of Michonne's night shirt to bring her closer to him; when she comes closer, he smells intoxicating aroma of rosewater on her skin. He looks down at her sparkling caramel eyes and tenderly touches her cheek, "Don't be, I don't want you to ever feel bad when you're with me; this life is much too short for trivial things like guilt." Rick tells her.

After a six week stand-off, Rick is finally able to kiss the lips of the woman he has wanted since the moment he saw her at the prison fence again. She wraps her arms around Rick's neck, rustling her fingers gently through his hair. She deepens their kiss with her tongue just as Rick reaches underneath her night shirt to feel the warm smoothness of her back and the firmness of bottom.

He starts guiding Michonne backwards toward the work table next to the workbench without breaking their lip lock. He leans her against the table and starts unbuttoning her shirt while her hands caress his face. Rick stops unbuttoning her shirt the minute he is able to reach his hand inside to knead those soft brown eyes that he has been yearning touch for so long.

He stops kissing her to watch as she becomes dazed by the sensation of his thumb rubbing against her nipple. Seeing that he has her completely hypnotized, he rips her shirt wide open sending buttons flying through the air and across the basement floor; he pulls her panties down then lifts her on to the edge of the worktable.

He goes back to kissing Michonne while he plays with her bean below. She manages to get her shirt off but, every time she reaches for Rick's shirt, his fingers hit her spot arousing her harder with each passing of his fingers. Finally she gets his shirt off and places it on the table next to her then, leans back on her elbows anxiously waiting for Ricks entrance.

The light coming from the dim 60 watt light bulbs in the rafters illuminates Michonne rich syrupy skin; Rick admires her luminous skin tone. With empathy, he runs his fingers over some of her battle scars she's received these past years. He lifts her up off her elbows; kisses her passionately and softly says to a groggy Michonne, "I can be a leader and still be your man", he kisses her fervently again, "From now on, where ever we go, where ever we are, if anyone even cares to ask..." he steadies her head to look her in the eyes, "...you're mine, you're Michonne Grimes from this day forward."

She agreeably smiles while touching the stubble along his jaw and chin and tells him, "That works for me", and she starts the kissing him again.

Upon her response, Rick enters Michonne as she sits in front of him on the work table; once he enters, the both of them make a soothing moan at the tight fit. Rick squeezes her thighs while releasing a quietly restrained, "Shit!" through his teeth from the intense feeling from being inside her once again.

Michonne lies back down on the table while he digs in to her slowly until he creates nice deep path, pulling out of her sporadically to control his pace and to tease her.

He lifts her legs so her thighs are laying on his chest; he grabs both of her hips and pulls her down to the edge of the table. He looks her body over and runs his thumb across her bottom lip then, down the middle of chest and muscle toned belly.

Rick takes much pleasure watching as she arches her back from each thrust he puts in to her.

Just when he is about to get a steady pace going, Michonne says, "Rick, Rick wait", she places her hand on his arm getting him to stop his motion, "Rick, hold on." He gives her another thrust at her comical request and asks softly, "Why?"

"Cause I have a feeling I'm going to be cum loud this time." She says apologetically.

And with those words Rick smiles to the point of laughter and shakes his head in pity for her, "Oh man, you are in so much trouble now. I have got to know what that feels like". He goes back to work by placing one hand on her shoulder to pull her in to his jab while his other hand rings her doorbell to intensify her climax.

After a few short minutes of propulsion, Rick shakes his head as he remembers the clenching of Michonne heavenly walls around his sharp standard. Before he forgets what she said, he grabs his undershirt lying next to her and covers Michonne's mouth hoping to muffle her orgasm.

Her body starts to quiver as he hits her mark, her increasing loud moans are safely hidden beneath his undershirt. Feeling her rush all around his standard he goes deeper and harder inside until he lets out a guttural yet subdued, "Fuck!" as he explodes inside the moist halls of the woman who now carries his last name.


	33. Chapter 33 the Joys of Matrimony

After hours of "reconciliation" in the basement, Rick and Michonne retire to the master bedroom to catch up on some much need rest. An hour or two before daybreak, Rick and Michonne are lying in the bed together. He has his arm around Michonne's stomach keeping her as close as he can to him; at the same time her arm secures his arm around her in place.

Rick wakes up out of his sleep by the sound of torrential rain and fierce winds crashing against the bedroom windows. He lifts his head up and looks over at the kerosene lantern on the floor in the corner struggling to give light to the dark bedroom.

Meanwhile, he looks down at Michonne begins to smile remembering his proposal and her acceptance. For a brief moment he becomes concerned over the fact that he hadn't talked it over with Carl but, Rick was confident that Carl wouldn't have any objection to having Michonne be his step-mother. So he lies back down next to Michonne and squeezes her a little tighter as he doses back off to sleep.

Rick jumps up at the sound of a light knock at the bedroom door. He slips out of the bed trying not to wake Michonne he runs over to the bedroom door. When he opens it he sees Carl holding Judith by the hand and whispers, "Hey guys, what's up?"

Carl looks at his father for a split second surprised that he's in Michonne's bedroom in his pajama pants no less but, doesn't think twice about it, "I just wanted to if she wants me to feed Judith breakfast." Carl whispers back.

Rick steps out of the bedroom and closes the door behind him, "Yea, well she's really tired from yesterday." Rick considers the fact; that Michonne ran through a number of emotions the day before and with the incredible sex they had on and off last night; he figures she needed some extra rest. "Uh, why don't you feed Judith and let her get some sleep. I'll be down in a little while later."

Carl nods his head, then picks Judith up and takes her down stairs.

After yet another, very quiet and subdued consummation; Rick and Michonne shower and get dressed for the day. There was something on his mind that he had to discuss with Michonne now that they had both agreed to formal union.

Rick pulls his undershirt over his head and asks, "I've been meaning to ask you this for a while."

Michonne looks at him oddly.

"Do you still get a…" the subject is somewhat uncomfortable for Rick so he says, "…a cycle."

Michonne lies down on the bed and begins to rub the olive oil in her hands. Then she massages on to her foot then down her calf and thigh, "You Grimes men are just full of surprises aren't you." She pours some more olive oil in her hand and massages it in to her other leg and says, "I don't know I haven't seen it since before the prison fell".

She stands up and begins rubbing her chest and arms with oil, "I think it has something to do with me not eating on a regular basis. I took a class in college that explained what happens when women are in a state of starvation. When food is scarce our bodies hold on to everything in order to keep the essential organs functioning.

Rick is staring at her mesmerized as she's oiling her body briefly then, registers what she just said, "So you mean to tell me you're not eating?

"No, I'm eating. I eat once a day…or every other day." She says with complete indifference.

Rick looks her with confusion and worry. Confusion because of her willingness to go without eating on a regular basis and worry because he was pretty sure that Michonne going without a menstrual cycle for months on end had to be bad.

He grabs his gun belt and begins to place it around his hip in frustration. Once he buckles it he walks over to Michonne in haste, "I want you to eat Michonne; I can't have you getting sick because you voluntarily don't want to eat."

Michonne looks at him with a smirk then walks over to the walking closet, "Rick I'm fine, I already survived that sickness at the prison."

"So you mean you're too old…" Michonne sharply looks at Rick before he can finish his sentence.

Rick clears his throat to correct himself, "What I meant to say was, you're in that part of your life when…"

"No, I am not." She tells him adamantly.

Rick, being unsure of how to discuss such sensitive matters with his new wife; walks over to her, "You need to eat more often than just once a every couple of days. What if we're out on the road for days without food; you need to eat more than every couple of days Michonne."

She looks at him closely and says, "That's not what this is about is it?" She walks over to the closet to some under garments and some pants. She stares at Rick while walking past him, "Rick, I don't want to have another baby. Everything is fine right now as it is…" she motions toward the window with her arm, "…as much as it can be anyway."

Rick is somewhat relieved that Michonne has no interest in having any children. He didn't want to lose her the same way he lost Lori. However, if they were ever to be in a stable situation where they would be safe and have access to medical care; without a doubt Rick would want Michonne to be fertile.

He walks over to her and holds her hand, "Chonne', I'm not gonna lie to you; I don't want to see get pregnant now either…", he pauses momentarily thinking about how he lost Lori, "…But if we were ever in a situation where my family and the group can be safe, I would want us to have that…option."

Michonne wasn't prepared for a conversation like this one; she knew there was no way she would ever want to have another child after losing Andre'. With a timid smile she brings the conversation to a close and says, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves Rick, we are sort of day to day right now. We shouldn't be clouding our heads with 'what if's'".

It finally stops raining; Michonne comes downstairs in to the kitchen dressed for the day. She sees Carl and Judith at the table eating oatmeal while Rick is leaning with his back against the kitchen sink drinking a cup of coffee and smiling devilishly. He passes a cup of hot tea to Michonne then he goes back to leaning against the sink still trying to restrain his obvious laugh.

Rick looks over at Carl and says, "Go ahead tell Michonne her, tell her what you told me."

Michonne sits down next to Judith curiously smiling at what Carl is about to tell her.

"Oh, so last night after Dad brought Judith in the room with me, I had this dream that me and Judith were walking through an amusement park and in the distance I could see people on the rollercoaster rides. I mean the whole dream felt sooo real." Carl tells her.

Michonne studies Rick face as he tries desperately to contain his laughter from behind his coffee mug.

Carl goes on to say, "It felt like we were really there, I mean could actually hear a girl's voice screaming as the roller coaster went down that first dip. It sounded a like a low scream but, I just figured it was because the ride was so far away from where Judith and I were standing"

Upon hearing this Michonne spits out her tea at the kitchen wall as Carl accurately describe the muffled scream she made last night in the basement. She quickly shot a horrified glance at Rick while he poorly attempts to hide his complete amusement from Carl's dream.

Carl goes back to finishing his oatmeal while a flustered Michonne picks Judith up and says anxiously "I better get her bag ready for the day. When she walks out of the kitchen she glances back at Rick as he snickers behind his mug; She shakes her head and silently laughs.

"I'm gonna get you for that." She mouths.


	34. Chapter 34: Disaster comes after Bliss

"Ahhh, Shit! I think I broke my ankle", Abe yells out to Michonne in the rain.

Michonne kills the last walker out of the few that she and Abe came across a couple hundred yards away from the backyard of her old house. She wipes some of the rain from her face to get a better look at Abraham. When she is finally able to focus she sees Abraham limping toward her.

She starts to run over to him but she slips on the dead wet autumn leaves that have fallen from the trees. By the time she reaches him she yells over the pouring rain, "What happened?"

"I stepped in a hole it must have been covered by all these fucking dead leaves." He yells back.

Michonne switches her backpack to her other shoulder to help Abraham back to the block.

"Hold on a second, let me re-load my gun." He tells her.

Abe reaches in to his backpack and pulls out a full clip and a syringe while Michonne watches the immediate area for walkers. He places his gun back in its holster and puts his backpack back on his shoulders.

"You ready", she yells. Abe nods his head and fists the syringe in his hand in order to conceal it from her; then wraps that arm around her shoulder.

"Damn where the hell did this storm even come from, the wind his crazy out here", Michonne yells.

"I know me and Ty were talking about it the other day. I think fall is when hurricane season starts in the south." Abe replies.

As Michonne helps Abe limp to back to the cul de sac she looks toward the opening at the edge of the woods that leads back to the block and sees Rosita waving her hands and yelling. "Oh, good Rosita can help me with getting you back."

Abraham looks over to the edge of the woods to verify that's Rosita. When he sees that it's her, he plunges the syringe in to Michonne's neck.

Michonne immediately removes Abe arm and grabs her neck where he injected her; then she looks to the ground and sees one of the medical syringe from the army survival kit that was passed out to the group last month lying on the ground.

Michonne looks up she sees a blurry Abe who standing up straight now. She goes to reach for her sword but her arm has become too heavy; she looks over at Rosita who's getting closer, she can faintly hear her screaming, "No, no! Michonne" over the heavy down pour.

Michonne legs become wobbly and end she ends up dropping down to the rain soaked ground; Abe removes her katana and her bag. Then he slings Michonne over his shoulder and reaches down to grab her katana and bag with the other hand and starts walking back in to the woods.

Rosita, now out of breath reaches Abe and pulls her gun out and aims it at Abe's back and shouts, "Put her down!"

Abraham hears Rosita's voice so he kneels down and drops Michonne on the ground like a rag doll. Afterwards, he slowly starts to stand back up turning around to face Rosita with his gun in his hand.

Rosita is having trouble seeing both of his hands because of the lighting in the dense woods and heavy rain; she suddenly hears echoing pop then falls to the ground.

The effects of the morphine in the syringe put Michonne in a delusional state as she watches Rosita fall to the ground. She's tries to keep her eyes open as she powerlessly watches Abe walk over to Rosita. The last thing Michonne sees is Abe lifting one of Rosita arms and sliding her bag and katana on to it; then starts pulls on Rosita's arm dragging her body back over.

**XXX**

Rick and Carl are about a mile away from Daryl's backyard, it's starting to drizzle so they pull out their nylon ponchos. Rick looks up at the woods ahead them and says to Carl, "So I wanted to talk with you about some thangs."

"About you and Michonne", Carl asks putting his poncho on.

Rick shyly grins and pulls his poncho over his head, and says, "Yea, I know that the me and Chonne' have been a bit awkward this past few weeks…"

The two of them start walking again when Carl interrupts him, "Dad, I know that the two of you haven't really been speaking since finding out about Jane being pregnant…but after seeing the two of you in the kitchen earlier…" Carl stops walking and looks down at his shoes, "All I want to know is if the two of you fixed whatever the problem was."

Rick stops walking and looks at his son appreciative at the fact that he doesn't care about the details of why he and Michonne weren't speaking; all he wanted to know is if they were back together. "Yea, we did."

They continue walking, "But there's something else. I know I should have talked with you first but, I'm hoping that you won't have a problem with what I'm about to tell you."

"What is it?" Carl asks.

"Last night I asked her to carry my last name…I asked her to be my wife." Rick looks over at Carl while they walk hoping to see his face for a reaction to what he said.

Carl stops walking again and looks at his Dad in silence then glances at the opening in the woods up ahead and says, "It's about time." Carl looks back at his father and smiles.

Rick wraps his arm around Carl's shoulder and chuckles at his brazen remark as they continue their expedition.

As a result from hearing about his father's proposal to Michonne the night before, Carl comes to a conclusion and says, "Oooh, I get it now. That was her voice is my dream, so last night the two of you were…"

Rick quickly takes his arm on Carl's shoulder and uses his hand to cover his mouth; he looks straight ahead and grins while telling him, "Please don't mention that around her, she's already pretty mortified by the description of your dream."

As they reach the end of the woods, Rick sees a highway sign further ahead, "The interstate must down the hill up ahead." Rick pauses peculiarly at the sound of rushing water, "Do you hear that? It sounds like running water."

Carl listens closely and says, "Yea, I hear it."

Rick removes his arm from Carl's shoulder and starts reaching in his bag to pullout some high powered binoculars.

"Well, I'm glad that you and Michonne settled everything, I didn't want us to go back down the block with crazy Jane." Carl confesses.

"Why is that?" Rick asks in an unconcerned tone digging for the binoculars.

"She was just too weird, always acting cheerful when things weren't. She always acted fake around me." Carl tells him as he wipes the cross falling rain from his face.

Rick finally pulls out the binoculars and stops to take a look up ahead and says, "Well everybody copes with this world differently Carl."

"No Dad, I mean she's not right in the head. Sometimes I would come down stairs and she would just be staring down at the stove. And she would just stand there and stare down at it for long time gripping the edges it while it was on." Carl explains.

Rick stops to look at Carl strangely the goes back to focusing the binoculars, "She would stare at the…", as he brings the binoculars in to focus, he sees the top of a green interstate highway sign but, when he pans down little below the sign he identifies the torso of a walker waving its arms around as it bobs up and down from raging waters pull it down stream. "Shit, shit no!" he shouts out frantically.

They start to hear loud cracking and popping noises coming from the right of them in the distance. Carl can hardly see further than his hand from the rain that has now gotten much heavier.

Rick flips up the mini covers on the binoculars to prevent the rain from hitting the lens; he looks down to the right 100 or more yards and sees tiny chucks of the hill and trees being washed away in to the water.

"Oh, no no!" he screams, "Come on Carl we gotta get back!"

**XXX**

In a deep morphine induced haze, Michonne wakes up from the constant rain drops falling on her face. She can't feel her arms or her legs yet she feels as though something is pulling her down. As she becomes slightly more alert she realizes that arms are tied together and she is hanging from a tree; looking down and around she also sees Rosita's lifeless body on the ground then she notices a decrepitly run-down cabin far away in the distance.

The wind from the storm begins to pick up and Michonne body begins to swing back and forth but, every time she swings through the air she hears an empty clanging sound over her head. The rain and morphine has disturb her vision some nonetheless she faintly observe two tin cans tied together around her wrists.

Michonne was never truly concerned for her safety, Maggie made that obviously clear the day before; but now that Michonne finally had a man and a family to look forward to; for the first time she was really scared.

Abe starts grabbing his bag while Michonne hangs from a tree in a debilitated state. Blinking heavily from the rain, she yells to Abe, "Why are you doing this?!"

He walks over to her and says, "All this is because of your man." Abe shakes his head, "He should've never humiliated me like that."

Michonne shouts, "Like what? He trusted you to join his group…he took you in."

"With Eugene, he should've never made me look like an incompetent asshole." He answers. "But what I'm doing right now? This is a baby shower gift, I could never think of something like this myself it's…too cruel. The thing about the tin cans tied to your wrists draw in walkers every time you move; I mean damn…" he shakes his head in shame, "Jane really hates you."

"You know Rick will kill you once he finds out." She yells.

"I already got that covered, besides he won't be thinking about me, he'll be too busy worrying about trying to finding you. He can't keep a clear thought in his head when he doesn't know where you are." He yells back.

Michonne looks over at Rosita on the ground, "Wait what about Rosita don't leave her this!"

"Oh don't worry, she should be famished when she reanimates herself, so I'm leaving her here to keep you company." Abe says as he starts a light jog back towards the cul de sac.

A heavy burst of hurricane-like wind begins to blow Michonne around again activating the walker dinner-bell that hangs from her wrists.


	35. Chapter 35:It's hard to kill in the rain

Abe sees Tyreese and Glenn at the barricade to the cul de sac and starts walking up to the gate.

"Hey what's up? You find anything?" Glenn asks as the rain starts to fade.

Tyreese and Glenn hop down to open the gate for Abe, "Nope, every rabbit and squirrel is probably huddle up somewhere inside a tree with all this damn rain.

Once Abe gets inside the barricade he looks over to the car pool and sees the pick-up truck Daryl uses to go hunting. He nods his head toward the truck and asks, "What about Daryl, he get anything?"

Tyreese closes the gate and tells him, "Na, he said wasn't nothing out there." Tyreese locks the gate back, "He said it was like every animal in a 2 mile radius just bolted overnight."

Abe huffs a bit and says, "Damn, he aint get nothin?"

Tyreese and Glenn shake their heads no, "But hey, can't be easy to kill in the rain, right?" Glenn says jokingly and chuckles with Tyreese.

Abe gives Glenn a peculiar glance then he slowly begins to walk toward his house, "Yea…I guess."

* * *

The heavy rain and winds calmly pass over the area; the only noises that can be heard are the left over rain drops as they fall from leaf to leaf and then to the ground.

Michonne jumps with every rustling noise that comes from the woods that are directly behind her. In front of her is an open field with nothing but tall grass then more woods. The only thing she can see are the legs and arms of Rosita's body that's almost completely hidden by the tall grass.

She nods out when the area is silent; but every time she lucid she tries to pull herself up in spite of the fact that with every action she makes the tin cans bang together. The effects of the morphine are still strong with in her system; with each attempt to pull herself up she becomes weaker and weaker. The fishing line that Abe used to tie her wrists begin to cut in to her skin creating tiny streams of blood that roll down her arms. Each time she gives up trying to pull herself up; she places more stress on her arm muscles causing them to lose its elasticity as she hangs on the branch.

Feeling depleted of energy, Michonne feels a certain peace that she hadn't had before; she didn't know if the contentment came from the morphine or if she was just exhausted from fighting walkers and human beings for these past years.

Although Rick's proposal from the night before was delightfully unexpected; and her first joyful morning breakfast as Mrs. Rick Grimes was more than she had hoped to gain in this new life and in this new world; somehow she always knew her end would be somewhat horrifying and torturous…like this.

Michonne watches her mortality, disguised as Rosita, as it starts to twitch its legs and arms. Even with the morphine still in her system; the added kick of adrenaline only makes her instincts that more acute when she's not nodding.

A post-storm breeze whips through the air lightly rustling the woods behind her and making her swing back and forth on the tree branch; along with the noise of the cans.

Michonne watches intently as Rosita's body gradually starts to sit up; at the same time it's making frightening groaning noises. Then it severely moans, "I can't believe that bastard shot me!"

* * *

It's almost noon and the rain has abated some by the time Rick and Carl make it back to the house. Rick is worn out from the run and struggles to make it up the deck stairs to the patio. He exhaustedly opens the patio door and sits down in the kitchen chair. A few seconds later Carl comes in and leans on the kitchen sink.

Daryl rushes upstairs from the basement after hearing the commotion in the kitchen. "What the hell is going on, what's wrong?"

Rick lifts his hand signaling to Daryl to give him a second to catch his breath. "Daryl…" he takes a couple more deep breaths, "…we're gonna to get flooded. About a mile or more north of the yard…" he pauses again, "…I- 47… it's a river now. It so strong I watched it wash away bits of the hill sound barrier for the interstate."

Rick finally gets his breath together and stands up and heavily sighs "Daryl, I saw a walker floating down stream...alive. The flood probably washed out towns along the interstate. Rick shakes his head at Daryl in disbelief, "We have to do plan B right now; we've got to get out of here. The rain has slowed up but if it starts again…we'll be stuck."

He turns to Carl, "Carl, gather you and Judith's stuff and place it in the living room." He turns back around to Daryl, "That moving truck you brought back from the truck stop a few weeks back is it ready to go?"

Daryl starts taking the dry goods out of the cabinet and answers, "Hell yea."

"Alright on your way down to get it; start letting our people know what's happening; let them know once they're finished packing to come up here so we can empty out the shed and the basement." Rick instructs him.

Rick stands in the kitchen while Carl and Daryl leave the room. He immediately closes his eyes and tries to remain focused but all he keeps hearing in his head was what he told Michonne last night, "…I can be a leader and still be your man." He opens his eyes and says aloud to himself, "If we're lucky maybe the rain will stop for the next 18-48 hours so we can get out of here intact."

"Should we let the other people know about what's coming?" Daryl asks before walking out the front door.

"Yes, of course you have our people start passing the word around but, if anyone starts to ask where we're going just have our people say that we're heading up interstate 85. This way we'll see who's planning on helping us as much as we will help them." Rick explains.

After warning all the group members in the block about the flood; Daryl finally reaches Abe's and Jane's house. He knocks on the door and Abe opens up, "What's up?"

"Listen, the block is about to get flooded soon; Rick wants everyone to start packing their stuff up. When you're finished come up block and help with empting the shed and the basement." Daryl tells him urgently.

"Holy Shit", alright I'll be up there in a few", Abe says.

Daryl glances in to the living room a bit and sees Jane on the couch, "Where's Rosita?"

"She went on a perimeter check earlier this morning with Michonne. I guess they should be coming back in a after a while." Abe offers.

Just when Daryl is about to walk away he asks, "Did you get anything from the snares?"

Abe's caught a bit off guard but responds with, "Huh, oh no; must have been the rain."

Daryl nods his head and continues to walk towards the truck.

* * *

Rosita looks around trying to assess where she is; then she notices Michonne hanging from the tree.

Michonne breaths a massive sigh of relief, "Rosita help me down from here."

She begins to push herself up but the pain from Abe's gun shot to her right shoulder causes her to scream aloud in agony. Rosita pulls her hand away from the wound and looks at her hand covered in blood.

Michonne sees the gunshot to Rosita's shoulder and starts to vaguely remember Abe shooting her in the woods earlier. Judging from the amount of blood on Rosita's hand; she already knows that Rosita won't be able to get her down, "No, Rosita get back to the cul de sac before you bleed out."

Rosita painfully manages to get up and says to her "I don't think that I'll make."

"Yes the hell you can! You're not gonna die and eat me! Besides you've made it this far in this hell hole! Michonne weakens further as the adrenaline rush leaves her body, "Look, get your shit together, get back to the block so Bob and Sasha can fix that wound; and warn Rick or anybody from the group about Abe and Jane and tell them where they can ind me. Take my bag and katana." She tells her.

Rosita looks up at Michonne as she dangles helplessly; she puts a look of determination on her face then painfully grabs Michonne's poncho then puts her katana around her to hold the poncho in place over her gunshot wound, "I'll get somebody Michonne." And she begins to run off following Abe's foots steps trying to recall what Daryl taught in the past weeks about tracking.


	36. Chapter 36: Handling things

Carl comes out of the middle bedroom that he's been sleeping in these past few weeks with the last of his belongings, a crate full of comic books. He stands in the entrance looking at the room wondering how long it'll be before he has a real home again let alone a bedroom of his own.

Without any warning Carl's moods shifts from somber to dark; he feels the heat as it radiates from his neck to his head and the hair follicles underneath his father sheriffs hat. His rage toward this new but desolate world infuriates him so much that he cracked the bottom of the comic book crate with his bare hands. Carl's concentrated anger shatters when he feels the break in the crate. Wounded by the sudden turn of events; he sorely shuts the door; remembering that he hasn't had a permanent home in nearly three years.

_**Meanwhile,**_

"The last time I saw her she said she was going on a perimeter check before it started raining again." Tyreese tells Rick' "Then about 45 minutes later Rosita came out the house in a rush and asked me where Michonne was because she was supposed to go with her."

Rick wants to panic; drop everything and go and find Michonne. But he knows that it's still early and that she is more that capable of check the perimeter.

With great composure he tells Tyreese, "Just spread the word that if anybody sees them to let them know what's going on. There's plenty of day left and they will probably be back in little while to take a break."

The sun peak out from behind the overcast briefly the group start placing their items in to the back of the truck. Daryl spots his shadow on the sidewalk and knows it late afternoon; he knows that Michonne and Rosita should've been back by now.

So he walks up to Rick and in a low voice says, "Maybe I should go and find them; they should've been back by now. Hell, they would've come back by now just to make sure the block was still intact."

Rick's relieved that Daryl has said something with regard to Rosita and Michonne's where abouts. After Michonne took the time to explain to Carl last month about the sacrifices a good leader has to make; he couldn't just up and leave to find her knowing full well that she's more than capable of taking care of herself when checking for breaches around the perimeter. More importantly he didn't want to get in to a argument with her because he left the kids and the group just to find her...again.

He knew he needed all the hands he could get at the point to empty the shed, the basement and anything else in this house that could be of use to them at the motel or on the road. The only person that should leave to locate Michonne and Rosita was Daryl.

He tells Daryl, "Hold on a second".

Carl immerges from the backyard carrying boxes from the shed; Rick grabs Judith's bag on the porch and whistles for Carl to walker over.

Carl places the boxes in the truck then jogs over to his father, "Dad where is…"

Rick cuts him off, "That's exactly what I was gonna talk to you about. Daryl's gonna go track Michonne and Rosita but with him leaving I'm gonna need to take his place getting the truck packed; and that also means I can't keep a look out the bottom block. So I want you to take Judith down to Jane's then I want you to keep watch. No one is paying attention to anything right now; the entire block is getting ready to leave because of this flood. Rick passes Judith's bag to Carl; then Judith.

"I know I haven't has time to train you on the wall…but I trust you will do what needs to be done down there."

Carl looks up at his father and shakes his head, "I'll handle it dad."

* * *

Carl walks in to Jane's house and hands Judith off to her as he goes to clear the house. He didn't care for Jane that much was clear; but she always made sure to take good care of his sister and with everything that's going on he would have to trust that her affection for Judith has not changed.

After clearing all the rooms, Jane makes an excruciating yelp. He rushes back in to the living to find Jane leaning and gripping one hand on the couch and the other underneath her belly.

"Are you alright? Should I get Bob and Sasha?" Carl urgently asks.

"Yea…" she holds her breath as another I'm sure it's just a small contraction." She tells him.

Carl watches as Jane begins to stand up straight again, "See now, it's gone. I'm fine go keep watch like your father said." Jane says. He nods his head and walks out the front door, within seconds Jane begins to worry; she remembers from her previous pregnancy that she the contractions came toward the end not in the beginning of the second trimester.

Carl walks out of Jane's house and over toward the barricade. Right before he's about to climb up he glances up the block and sees a slow walker distance coming from the side of Tyreese's house.

He grabs a lead pipe from the weapons crate by the gate; then he starts walking quickly towards it, "Hey, Hey", he yells trying to get the walker's attention.

As he gets closer to the walker he notices the sword on its back and freezes immediately knowing its probably Michonne. Fear begins to engulf his body; if he had to kill another woman that he considered to be his mother he would never be right again.

The walker finally turns around and sees Carl, "Car..." Rosita collapses to the ground.

Carl runs up to Rosita while yelling for his father, "Dad, Dad!"

* * *

The cascading clouds and sun remind Michonne of some of the beautiful paintings that she saw at the last art exhibit she attended before the turn. Still hanging from the tree branch, she sees two walkers in the distance forgetting the precariousness of her situation she automatically tries to lift herself up but, the noise from the cans stops her cold. The walkers hear the noise and start walking toward her. Tears flood Michonne's eyes as the walkers get closer and closer. Her only thoughts at that particular moment were, _"I should've told him, I should've just said it that night. And now it's too late."_

Her body surges with adrenaline as she prepares to kick the walkers as hard as she can, when suddenly she sees a man comes running from in back of her and begins to bash the skulls of the walkers with an aluminum bat.

After finishing off the walkers; the man turns around dropping his bag and pulls out his hunting knife. He climbs up the tree and on to the branch to cut Michonne down. She falls to the ground like a rag doll and James quickly climbs down and over to her.

Considering her state Michonne is unsure if who she's seeing is real or a hallucination. "James", she quietly asks.

"Yea, it's me, Michonne." James affirms.


	37. Chapter 37: Clearing up debts

**Author's Note: ****_I don't mean to gross you out at the end of this chapter but that's how I see it happening in my head._**

James approaches Michonne lying on the ground; he quickly inspects her face and the limpness in her body motion so he grabs his bag and takes out a bottle of water, then sits down bringing her weakened head in to his lap.

As he pours the water on her lips he again inspects how dry and cracked they are but her entire body is completely drenched in sweat. Her body was so hot that James became very concerned; so he starts checking for bite marks and scratches but finds none. Then he opens one of her eyes lids and checks to see if her pupils are dilated.

Michonne finally comes out of her daze a bit and wakes to the taste of water in her mouth; she want more quickly so she goes to lift her arm but hollers with a wretchedness that could attract any walker in the area to their location because of the pain.

James begins pouring more water in to her mouth but it becomes too much too quickly and she began to choke a bit. He leans her up a bit so she can stop choking. As he's patting her back a small stream of water flows underneath them. James begins to look around at the ground and notices that the small stream flowed through everywhere.

"Come on Michonne, I gotta get you back to the block." When goes to stand up he quickly forgets the pain in her arm and tries lifting one to put around his neck when she screams from the pain again he tells her, "Damn, I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Having been in such a debilitating state for hours, Michonne has no true sense of what is going on around her. Her befuddling condition brought on by the combination of: sever fatigue and dehydration accompanied with a heavy dose of narcotics; She strains herself to tell him, "My arms and legs are useless; I've been hanging there all day."

James grabs his bag and bat then he hoisters Michonne over his shoulder, "Don't worry Michonne, hopefully I can get you back to the cul de sac without anyone from the group shooting me. Besides…I owe you."

* * *

Daryl walks out the front door with his crossbow and backpack when he sees Carl leaning down closely at what appears to be a walker in the distance.

"Carl! What the hell!" He screams and starts running down the block.

Carl doesn't hear Daryl as lifts Rosita and drapes her left arm around his shoulder. He struggles to drag her up the block; on occasion scrapping Rosita's knees against the asphalt. By the time Daryl reaches the two; he grabs Rosita from Carl and tells him to run to the house to let Bob and Sasha know that Rosita is hurt.

Rick runs out the front door to help with carrying Rosita in to the house. Tyreese holds the door open as they carry her inside. Once they lay her on the couch, Rick looks for a wound.

"It's a gun shot." He tells Daryl.

Bob and Sasha immediately run in to the house with one of the Army medical kits that were a part of Tero's surplus in the shed.

Glenn, Maggie and Abraham follow inside a few seconds later.

Bob starts taking off his jacket, "What is it", he looks at Rick and Daryl anxiously.

Rick lifts Rosita up on the couch and begins to take her blood soaked vest and shirt off, "Gunshot."

Sasha walks over to Bob as he holds his hands out; and pours alcohol on his hands. Then she douses her hands in alcohol as well.

"My god…" Sasha hopelessly says, "…she's as pale as a ghost. She must have been bleeding out for a while."

Rosita briefly opens her eyes in haze and looks at everyone in the room. She sees Abe standing in the kitchen door way; then she looks around and locks eyes with Daryl.

"Was Michonne with you? Have you seen her?" Carl questions.

* * *

There's barely any light in the stairway as Jane helps Judith walk upstairs to the bedroom. Half way up the stairs Jane drops Judith's hand due to another pain. She places her hand underneath her belly and clenches her eyes tightly together as she leans against the wall and banister for support.

Judith looks up at her in surprise when Jane suddenly drops her hand; then she observes the stress in her body language and carefully inches over towards her out of concern and pulls on Jane's sweatpants for balance.

Jane looks down at the toddler seeing the obvious concern on her face, "No, no Judy-tooty, I'm alright." As she's reaching for the wall banister for leverage to get up the rest of the stairs; she feels cool air hitting the skin in her inner thigh then down her leg; as the a small stream of liquid continues to escape her vagina she crusades up the rest of the stairs leaving Judith to climb up by herself the rest of the way.

The curtains in Carl's old bedroom window are wide open allowing the late afternoon daylight in to the room. Jane hastily staggers to the window but before she lifts it she feels a heavier and warm surge flowing down her legs; when she looks down at her sweat pants she gravely notes that the flood of liquid is blood.

She rushes to opens the window and looks over at the barricade for Carl, "Carl!" She waits to see if he responds, "Carl!" She screams again but hears no response.

Judith finishes climbing upstairs; then crawls over to the bedroom toward Jane while softly crying, "Ja…Ja".

Jane turns around then holds her belly while walking towards Judith, "I'm o.k. Judith, Mommy's o.k." She walks past Judith and goes in to the bathroom and shuts the door.

Judith continues to cry but stops crawling and sits while Jane goes in to the bathroom and shuts the door. She fearfully looks around the room hoping to see a familiar face for a few minutes; until she hears a large crash then a loud thud in the bathroom.

She stops crying and crawls over to the bathroom door; then pulls herself up with the door and attempts to turn the knob, "Ja…Ja, Ja, Ja". After a few minutes she finally turns the door knob and the bathroom door opens but only partly. Judith knows that the door opens more but something is stopping it.

When she pushes on the door, she sees Jane's blood covered foot lifelessly slide from in back of the door and in to the small opening; at the bottom of her gathered sweat pants something about the size of peache eerily squirms about.


	38. Chapter 38: The calling of accounts

Abe watches from the kitchen doorway as Bob and Sasha frantically try to slow the bleeding coming from Rosita's shoulder. Rick and Tyreese coming running downstairs with sheets and towels; Bob opens a couple of alcohol wipes; then he swipes Rosita forearm and administers a shot of morphine from the emergency medical kit. Exactly like the one he gave Michonne that morning.

He recalls how long ago he had actually shot Rosita and he knows that she's been bleeding out all day. After the morphine hits her system; Abe figures that she couldn't possibly live much longer even if she did live a little while longer she would be in a completely incoherent state in case she mentions his name. However, if she mentions Michonne whereabouts that could be a serious problem; so he decides to go back and get rid of Michonne before it gets to that point.

Abe, pretending to painfully distraught over Rosita, "I've gotta go get Jane she would want to see her." He tells everyone quickly leaving the living room then out the front door.

Rosita feels the effects of the morphine as begins to take over her body when Abe leaves the house. Right before she doses she says faintly, "Daryl."

Daryl leans in close glancing at her eyes and lips; she fades out saying, "She's hanging from a tree…Michonne's hanging from a tree."

He steps away from the couch as though it was on fire. Horrified by what she said; he stares a while at Bob and Sasha while they try to address her wound.

Everyone left in the room looks at Daryl waiting for him to tell them what she said.

"What did she say?" Rick urgently asks.

Daryl can hardly bring himself to say it, "She said, 'She's hanging from a tree…Michonne's hanging from a tree.'"

Utter silence enters the living room; everyone, with the exception of Carl, was bornin the late 20th century. The phrase, "Hanging from a tree" could imply many things; but the fact that Michonne (an African-American woman) was missing along with Rosita's statement; supplies a vivid picture for all the adults in the room. They may not have witnessed the lynching and the other atrocities that African Americans were forced to endure during their existence in this country; but they were well aware that it was a chilling hard fact when it comes to the history in this country.

Everyone pauses momentarily to digest what Daryl has just said; Rick feels his heart drop in to his stomach and he goes completely numb at the thought of Michonne hanging from a tree.

Carl's eyes instantly begin to water at the thought of Michonne being dead so he runs to hug he father but Rick can hardly bring his arms to hug his son due to this shockwave of news.

Tears begin to roll down Daryl's face as he thinks of his surrogate sibling being dead, in addition to the fact that Rosita may not be far behind her. He quickly wipes his face and announces, "I'm going to find her."

Tyreese asks, "Where, It's almost dark outside?"

"I don't give shit! I'm goin out there to find her, Chonne is just like Merle she's a badass…she's aint dead." Daryl yells.

Maggie jumps in with, 'I'm going with you."

Glenn looks over at Maggie with annoyance, "Oh no the hell you're not! You stay here and finish packing the truck. I'll go."

Daryl gets annoyed with the whole discussion and says while walking through the living toward the kitchen, "I don't want any of ya'll coming with me it's hard enough tracking in the dark, I don't need a bunch of people getting in my way."

Maggie walks out of the room while looking at Glenn, "I'm going to my gear to find her; I'm not losing her the same way I lost Beth." Glenn and Maggie start to argue while running back through the kitchen and out the patio door.

* * *

Abraham walks in the front door of his house and sees Judith sitting on the living room floor, "Hey Judy", he acknowledges her as an afterthought,

"Jane, Rosita made it back to the block." He yells thinking Jane is in the kitchen, "I gotta go back and move Michonne or something before Rosita says anything."

He runs upstairs and goes in to the small bedroom at the end of the hall. Opening the bedroom closet he starts grabbing a couple of weapons and night-vision binoculars.

Rummaging through the closet looking for a bag; his focus is broken when he hears Judith crying at the bottom of the stairs.

Abe curiously comes out of the room and leans on the wall banister across from the bathroom and yells, "Jane, where's my bag and why's Judith crying so hard?"

The early evening daylight is quickly fading causing anything dark colored to look altogether black; Right before Abe lifts up off the banister he looks down and sees a trail a of something dark on the light colored carpet.

He starts to hear the bathroom door slowly open, thinking Jane must have been in the bathroom all this time; Abe continues looking down at the carpet.

"Jane what is all this shit on the…", When he looks up Jane lunges at him removing a hunk of his neck spewing and splattering blood throughout the tiny hallway.

Abe lets out a bloodcurdling holler before he falls to floor making it all the more easier for Jane to devour him.

* * *

Minutes after Abe walks in the house , James carryies Michonne over his shoulder through the backyard of one of the boarded up houses at the end of the cul de sac. Before emerging in to the block he once-overs the barricade to see if the nightshift is there yet; not seeing anyone at the gate he places Michonne down and up against the gate.

"James, why did you say, 'It's the least I can do'", Michonne asks still heavily dazed and confused.

He stands up and right before he walks away he tells her, "It's the least I can do you since you gave me my freedom from Jane."

James looks around to make sure no one has seen him, then runs back in the direction they came from.


	39. Chapter 39: Meaningful drivel

Bob and Sasha lean Rosita on her side to look for an exit wound on her back. Bob tells Sasha, "I can't see anything in the wound; there's too much blood." So he slowly pushes a finger in the wound making Rosita scream out in pain.

"I think the bullet is still in there. I can feel something flat and smooth." Bob takes a towel and places it on the hole in the front and in Rosita's back; he looks at Sasha, She needs blood right now."

She looks at him crazy, "We don't even know her blood type. She could die if she gets the wrong one."

Bob responds, "She'll die if we don't take that chance. Her pressure is dropping, I have type O negative, that's the most common donor type." He stands up, "Come on, help me get what we need out of the truck."

Rick…" Bob turns to Rick and Carl as they continue standing in disbelief, "…Rick!'

He snaps out of his daze and looks at Bob, "Rick, sit her up and hold the towel on the wounds to slow down the bleeding. We'll be right back."

* * *

Michonne begins to use the ladder to pull herself up; screaming from the excruciating pain in both her arms. Out of nowhere, she hears a deep voice scream from the second floor of Jane's house. Immediately following the that scream she hears the terrified cry of a baby.

The sound of a baby crying automatically distorts her thought process and her reality; as she know believes she hears her baby boy Andre' crying.

She stumbles across the street to Jane's; while crying to herself she continually repeats under her breath, "Andre'...I'm coming Andre.'"

As she painfully opens the door; the truth hits her with a pounding migrain as she spots Judith instead of Andre' nearly half way up the stairs.

She gets to the stairs and leans up against the wall for balance as she climbs up a couple of steps to get to Judith. Once she's one step away she leans down and whispers in her most soothing voice, "Wrap your arms around my neck Mommy."

Judith's face instantaneously lights up at the site of Michonne's face; she reaches up for Michonne neck.

* * *

Rick rushes over to Rosita; sits her up and presses the towel over the entrance and exits of the wounds while Bob and Sasha head out to the truck.

By now, Rosita is hardly coherent of anything that's going on. She starts, what Rick considers to be Spanish gibberish until he hears her softly say, "I can't believe that son of a bitch shot me…I can't believe Abe shot me."

Carl watches his father from across the room as he holds Rosita when he glances at the perplexing look on his father's face as he asks Rosita, "What…did you say Abe shot you?"

She lucidly comes out of her hallucinating state and has a fleeting moment of clarity, "Rick, Abe strung her up to a tree with telephone wire. The cans are going to attract walkers every time she moves; You have to find her...Abe knows where…" she closes her eyes again falling in to another morphine induced state.

"Carl, get over her!" Rick yells, "Hold this towel to her back and her chest as hard as you can."

Rick pulls his python out and checks to make sure it's loaded then grabs a Beretta from the one of the weapons crate in the living room corner, "The second Daryl comes back upstairs you tell him to get down to Abe's house fast!"

"But, Dad where are you going", Carl yells in confusion as his father charges out the front door.

* * *

Michonne lifts Judith up with her neck and back but needs to secure her so very quietly she tries to restrain her cries as she lifts one arm lazily to help Judith feel more secure.

She tensely walks backwards down the stairs but miscalculates a step and her and Judith fall down the rest of the stairs.

Judith hits he head on the carpeted stairs and begins to wail extremely loud. Michonne's fall puts her in a vulnerable position at the bottom of the stairs on the floor and leaning up against the wall.

Judith starts to scream louder because of her fall and begins to climb on Michonne waiting for a comforting embrace.

Above all the crying, Michonne starts to hear the ungodly sound of a walker moving around upstairs. When she looks up the steps she leers at a shadow at the top of the stairs that could only be Jane judging from the small slender silhouette.

Jane's entire front is thoroughly saturated what can only be blood; she lunges for Michonne and Judith by falling down the steps. With acute timing, Michonne kicks Jane in to the living right before she's lands on the two of them.

* * *

Daryl hurriedly walks back upstairs and in to the living room with Tyreese behind him carrying gear that Daryl plans on taking to with him to go and find Michonne; when he scans the room he says, "Where the hell did everybody go?"

"My Dad said to get down to Abe's quick, Rosita said that Abe knows where Michonne is." Carl tells him crucially.

Daryl drops everything and grabs his crossbow and a glock out of the weapons crate, "Ty, stay here and help him with Rosita", and leaves out the front door; jumping in to the SUV peeling down the block.

* * *

The closer Rick gets to Abe's house the louder Judith's scream becomes causing him to jet down the block in double time. As he approaches the open front door he pulls out his pythons and a flashlight before entering.

Once Rick gets inside he hears the ghastly screams of his daughter; the moment he cast his flashlight over by the stairs he witness Jane flying in to the living room. He follows the flashlight across the room and spots the woman that was once Jane but is now a walker.

He blasts the walker with two shots to the head before it can get up; then pans his flashlight back over to the bottom of the stairs.


	40. Chapter 40: Removing the Red Menace

Judith screams at the shot of Rick's gun while steadily climbing and grabbing at Michonne.

"Don't cry Peanut, Mommy's here, Mommy's here…" Michonne sobs as she tries to console Judith believing that it's Andre', "…just hang on to Mommy."

Rick pans his flashlight over at the bottom of the stairs and sees Judith climbing over a dead body. He runs over to Judith and immediately picks her up, when he looks back down at the body he sees it's Michonne on the floor; her back iup against the wall looking very inert.

He starts to silently cry at the site of the 2nd Mrs. Rick Grimes, thinking that she's dead while Judith continues to wail uncontrollably.

"Shhh, shh, Judith I'm here baby. Daddy's here." He sobbingly tells her.

_"…I'll stay here with Peanut, I'll stay here with Andre' and you go on the run…Andre' he needs me…not you."_ Michonne says inaudibly now back in her delirium.

Rick kneels down with his flashlight to do a quick study of her face; his gander reveals Michonne talking with her eyes closed, clearly transported from the events that happened throughout the day.

He buckles to his knees from the relief of hearing Michonne's voice; the reprieve he feels almost leaves him speechless.

Rick secures Judith in one of his arms then leans down to lift Michonne up at the same time under his breath and with his raspy southern drawl he whispers in her ear, "Come on darling."

He goes to grab one her arms but she cries aloud in pain. Remembering what Rosita said about Michonne hanging from a tree; he grabs one her legs to drag her down the last couple of steps when he hears the sounds of a walker at the top of the steps.

Rick drops her leg and pulls out the flashlight and shines it upstairs; he sees Abraham with his head dangling to the right side of what used to be his neck. However, most of the skin and muscle around his neck down to his hip has been completely chewed away; allowing his intestine to spill out.

When Rick takes in the sight of this new Abraham; he hears Daryl's SUV speeding on to the front lawn.

"Daryl!" Rick yells.

Rick drops the flashlight on the floor and quickly grabs one of her legs again; with Judith still in his other arm he drags Michonne down the last couple of steps.

Being that Abraham can no longer navigate stairs; the second he takes a step forward he starts falling toward bottom. However, Daryl's flashlight and his bow through Abraham's eye socket rendering him harmless in mid-air.

* * *

Maggie begins walking down the block with her gear determined to find Michonne even if it's in the dark. Glenn grabs her forearm trying to stop her but she snatches her arm away from him.

Seeing how hurt Glenn is by her action she drops her shoulders and explains, 'Glenn, I get it. We're married and I love you but; Michonne has saved my life too many times. The first time she saved my life and she didn't even know who the hell I was…I have to go. We risk are lives every fucking day in this world the only thing that matters now is what we risk our lives for. Now you can come with me but you can't stop me from going."

Maggie turns around starts walking; Glenn is on his way back to the truck to get his gear. When goes to follow Maggie he sees Daryl's SUV speeding all the way back up the block. They run over to the car and see Rick getting out of the back seat with Judith in his arms.

The natives of the block step out of their front doors to see the cause of Rick's gunshot when they witness Daryl's SUV speeding backward up the block. By the time they get here Maggie and Glenn are already standing on the sidewalk.

"Maggie come take Judith, we found Michonne!" Rick yells.

Maggie and Glenn come running over to help; Maggie grabs Judith from Ricks' arms and stands back. While Daryl runs to the other side and helps Rick carry Michonne out of the car.

"Glenn, get the door!" Daryl yells.

When Rick and Daryl get inside the house with Michonne's body; they see that Rosita is no longer on the couch.

"Where's Rosita?" Rick asks Glenn.

"I don't know, hold on." Glenn says while running up the stairs.

Rick and Daryl get Michonne to the top of the stairs; Glenn tells them to take her in to the master bedroom.

"Maggie lock all the doors to this house, I don't want anyone or anything coming in or out!" Rick yells.

They lay Michonne gentle on the bed; her state of reality continues to be a mystery to both of them being that she kept repeating, "Andre'", over and over again in the car. They start removing Michonne's clothing to inspect her body for bites or scratches, "Glen, tell Bob or Sasha to come in here." Rick tells him.

A few minutes later, Sasha runs in to the room; she's overjoyed that they have found Michonne alive, "Where was she?"

Daryl continues removing her clothing and says to Rick, "Who the hell is Andre?"

Rick looks over at Daryl while pulling peeling pants off of her legs and replies, "It's a long story."

* * *

Sasha runs in the bathroom to scrub her hands, then runs back in to the smaller bedroom where Rosita and Bob were. Rosita is lying unconscious on one bed while Bob has the IV from an emergency blood transfusion kit pumping blood in to Rosita.

Carl looks over at Sasha; one of the many Brooklyn light set around the room illuminates her presences in the door way. He's standing with his gun drawn in case Rosita dies; while Tyreese monitors Rosita's pulse on her neck.

"Carl, they found Michonne." Sasha says with relief.

With a smile of relief Carl asks, "Is she alright?"

"I don't know yet." Sasha walks over to the IV drip from the survival blood transfusion kit to see how much blood Bob has given; then she looks over Tyreese.

"I got this right now; go see what's going on with Michonne." Tyreese reassures her.

* * *

Michonne lays almost completely nude with the exception of her bra and panties. Still in her delusional state on the bed; Daryl and Rick look her body over for bites and scratches. Daryl glances over at Rick who face and body language reads exactly how completely distraught he is over Michonne's condition.

Knowing that Rick needs to decompress from the pent up stress over the worry; he decides to give Rick a moment alone," I'm gonna go check on Rosita."

Rick barely gives acknowledgement of what Daryl just said; however he moves to the spot Daryl was in to get closer to Michonne.

Rick wants to lift one of her arm in order to hold her hand it close to his face but he remembers how badly she screamed when he lifted her arm earlier. He kneels down and observes the telephone wire burn marks around her wrists.

Sasha walks in the bedroom with bandages, alcohol and emergency packages of antibiotics. She looks over at Rick 's face as it resembles the same disconnected face from conversation that he had when they finished the surgery on Michonne leg a couple of months back.

He gazes upon her, helpless as to what he can do to make her well when Sasha enters the room then he looks over at Sasha and says in the mannerisms and maturity of a six year old, "She's-she's really hot Sasha…can you fix her?"

"I don't know Rick, does she have any bites or scratches?" she asks carefully while walking close to her bedside.

"None that we could see just cuts around her wrists from whatever he used to tie her wrists up with." He answers while still gazing upon her face."

Sasha positions her herself so that he has to move out of the way, "Rick, Let me see why she's so hot."


	41. Chapter 41: The nightmare of reality

Tyreese turns the solar latern up some more so Sasha can re-bandage both wounds on Rosita now that she has had a blood transfusion.

"I'm gonna go downstairs to help finish packing the truck." Tyreeses tells Bob then leaves the room.

Bob explains to Sasha that they wait for couple of hours before attempting to get Abe's bullet out of her back to make sure Rosita's body doesn't reject the blood transfusion.

"Won't we need to put her under to get that bullet out of her back?" Sasha asks.

"If we were in a better situation…yes, but we will have to make it happen without it. I only stuck my finger in the wound about an inch before I felt the bullet. So if we can somehow hold her down like we did with Michonne it might work." He explains.

Bob becomes somewhat light headed while standing and talking with Sasha and nearly falls to the floor.

Sasha catches him and leads him over to Carl's mattress that was brought in by Tyreese, "Just stay here I'll go and get you some to eat and some water from downstairs."

Before she goes down stairs she peeps in to the master bedroom to see if Michonne's fever has come down. When she looks in to the room she sees Rick and Carl sitting next to each other on the floor against the wall with one dimly lit solar lamp in the far corner of the room.

"Has her fever come down some?" She asks.

Rick walks over and gently touches Michonne's forehead and leg; shakes his head yes then he goes back to sitting next to Carl on the floor.

Sasha closes the door and is about to heads down stairs when tidal wave of emotions hits her so hard that it she stops to leans up against the wall for a few seconds.

As Daryl is coming upstairs with Judith; he halts on the step before hers and softly asks, "You good?"

She looks down at Judith sleeping in Daryl's arms then looks at him shaking her head and with a heavy sigh she asks him, "How in the hell have we made it this far?"

"By constantly having something to do, that's all." He reasons.

Daryl leans in to look at her, "Hey, you can't have a breakdown now, not now. Once we get to the motel and everybody settled, I promise to give you two days of mental breakdown."

Sasha chuckles a little; shakes her head and continues down the stairs.

Daryl quietly walks in to the master bedroom with Judith; Rick gets up to and walks over to him.

"How's she doing? Daryl asks.

Rick gently grabs Judith from Daryl, "It looks as though the fever is coming down but she is still unconscious."

Daryl shakes his head happily pleased to finally hear some good news, "Look me, Tyreese, Maggie and Glenn are gonna finish loading up the truck so we can be ready to move as soon as Bob and Sasha says it's cool for Rosita to travel."

Rick looks over at Carl and whispers, "Hey."

He comes walking over to his father, "I want you to go and be a look out while they finish packing up the truck."

Carl nods his head and walks down stairs with Daryl.

* * *

Looking up at the night sky, Carl had forgotten what it was like to sit and gaze at the stars and moon. Over the past couple of months there had been more days and nights of over cast and rain than there were of sunny days and clear nights. There just never seem to be anytime to just sit and wonder; to imagine or to appreciate something majestic. But this particular late night had proven to be a lucky one as he's finally able to be alone with his thoughts sitting on the curb; keeping watch…sort of, while Maggie, Tyreese, Glenn and Daryl finish packing up the truck.

Focusing at night the sky; he notices that there isn't a cloud to be seen anywhere. If he tried hard enough he could remember the last time he and his mother laid outside on the grass in their yard back in King County during those autumn nights looking up at luminous sky.

He sadly glances away from the magnificent night sky to watch a small stream of water flow in to the storm drain; he places his muddy boot in to the stream of water. As the water washes away some of mud from his boots he lets out a long sigh and with a heavy heart he says to himself, "I miss you Mom."

* * *

Daryl wakes from a non-REM sleep in a chair on the front porch. Its early morning and yet again he doesn't hear any robins sounding off. In fact he notices that everything in the block is ominously quiet.

Remembering all that has transpired; he pulls joint out of his pocket and goes to light it up but a burst of storm winds quickly blows through the area. He studies the dark morning sky as stars disappear beneath the shallow storm clouds; in spitting distance of the storm drains, he hears the force of rushing water as it quickly trickles out and on to the street.

Tyreese is on his way out the front door with some blankets and linen when he sees Daryl running up toward him, "What's up?"Tyreese asks.

"Ty, we gotta get out of here right now, there's a serious storm coming we gotta move."

"How are we supposed to move? Bob and Sasha are about to take the bullet out of Rosita's shoulder." Tyreese tells him.

* * *

Judith wakes up in between Rick and Michonne asleep on the bed. She crawls over to Michonne and starts playing with her hair then snuggles her with an Eskimo kiss.

Michonne begins to wake up slowly from her unconscious state when she feels tiny toddler hands playing with her hair and a tiny toddler nose tickling hers. She begins to talk while coming out of her state,

_"Andre, you can wake daddy first to change you sometimes, I had this horrible nightmare…"_, when she goes to turn on her side the soreness of her arms quickly snaps her awake.

She wrinkles her face from the soreness in her arms. Discombobulated, she looks around the room and understands that her nightmare is the reality and Andre' playing with her hair was merely a dream. Witnessing Judith's smiling face; a surge of tears and emotions fill Michonne's eyes as she recalls all of what has happened since the turn and how she lost lost her little boy.

Judith, now observing the look on Michonne's face, crawls closer to her and embraces her around the neck smothering her with kisses on the cheek; mimicking what Michonne does to her every morning.

Michonne makes a slight whimper from the pain when raising her arms to hug Judith; she sees the bandages around her wrists obligating her to recall some of the events that took place the day before.

However, she is also immensely grateful that Judith is there to comfort her.

Rick wakes up upon hearing Michonne weep; he smiles at the fact that she's a wake then becomes very concerned as to why she's crying and hugging Judith so tight, "Hey…", he places his hand on Michonne's back, "What's wrong?"


	42. Chapter 42: Changing Lodges

Before Rick can question Michonne further there's a knock at the bedroom door.

He goes to open the door and sees Daryl standing there with a couple of the solar lanterns that were being used by Bob and Sasha, "What is it," he asks knowing the answer would be bad.

"Rick we have to move now, and I mean right now. There's a storm coming and it looks pretty bad. I-47 must be pretty damn bad cause the storm drains are are beginning to spill water on to the street. I already told Bob and Sasha to get Rosita ready to travel. How's Michonne doing?"

Rick and Daryl looks over at Michonne whose still crying and hugging Judith. Rick pinches the bridge of his nose then looks back at Daryl and says, "I guess she's alright. Listen, if anybody from the block is following us over to the motel I want you to put them in the west wing of the motel…I can't deal with any stranger being close to our group right now. I feel bad enough as it is with the last bunch I let in."

Daryl nods his head in agreement then starts walking down the hall to help move Rosita.

"On the way out make sure we stop to collect all the weapons and food out of Jane's house." Rick tells him.

Rick closes the door and pauses momentarily; then he opens the closet door and begins grabbing stuff and placing them in army bags.

Michonne looks over at him packing and instantly accepts her reality again. She sniffles a little while pulling away from Judith to ask, "What's going on?"

Rick comes out of the closet and says, "While you..." he sisn't even want to think about what happened the day before, "...yesterday I found out that I-47 is river, now Daryl says there's a serious storm coming…we have to leave right now." He goes back to packing in the closet.

"Is Rosita…" Michonne starts to ask.

"She's here, and she's stable for the time being but, Bob and Sasha gotta operate to get the bullet out of her shoulder." He yells from the closet.

"What about Abe and …", Rick comes out of the closet slowly once more and cuts her off, "You don't have to worry about them anymore."

She goes to push herself up and out of the bed but her arms hurt too bad, "Shit," she turns around to Judith to apologize for the swear, "sorry Mommy."

Rick comes back out of the closet upon hearing Michonne swear, "No, Chonne' please just wait there…let me finish cleaning out this closet and I will help you get dressed."

"I can dress myself Rick." She says with irritation.

Rick closes his eyes shakes his head in annoyance because he doesn't want to have a fight, "Chonne…just please wait there; your arms are really weak right now." he pleads

Knowing that he's right about her arms; she sits and waits on the bed pissed off at the fact that once again she can't do for herself and that she's totally dependant on someone else.

* * *

Daylight is breaking as Maggie and Carl go to warn the people in the block about the storm and how their group was getting ready to leave. On the way back to Daryl's, Maggie and Carl remember that they haven't warned the next door neighbor, Ed.

As they get closer to Ed's house Maggie grabs Carl's arm, "You go tell him about it, I might to shoot him in the face."

Carl looks at her silly knowing that Hershel told her about him killing that kid when the Governor attacked the prison the first time, "**_You_** better go tell him cause _**I will**_ shoot him in the face after what he said about Michonne."

Maggie goes up to his front door and knocks when Ed opens the door, his face display a disgusting grin, "To what do I owe the pleasure of…"

With a stern look on her face Maggie cuts him off, "There's a storm coming and it's about to flood the block." She turns around and starts walking back over to Daryl's.

Carl stands on the sidewalk staring at Ed as he closes the door, then he starts running back to Daryl's.

* * *

Rick finally comes out of the closet with the army bags and couple of old gym bags; he opens the bedroom door, "Carl." He yells.

Carl comes up stairs, "Start taking these bags and put them in the back of the SUV", Rick tells him. "Then come back and grab your sister."

Rick grabs a sweat suit he left in the closet for Michonne; when he walks over to her he kneels down in front of her and pauses momentarily before lifting and placing her legs in to the pants, "So do you want to tell me why you were crying a few minutes ago?"

She sighs, "It was nothing."

Rick can hear in her voice that she's about to shut him out again; he places his hands under her arms and lifts her up to pull the pants up to her waist then he gently places her arms in the jacket. Looking her in those hypnotic sparkly brown eyes he says, "If we're gonna do this Chonne'… you can't shut me out whenever you want to."

Michonne turns away from his trustful deep sea eyes but, he maneuvers his head so that their eyes stay locked on one another, "Sweetheart...you've got to atleast make an effort...put some type of fidelity in to this." He tells her.

She sighs once but this time she says, "I just thought…" she says nonchalantly, "…I was somewhere else."

He zips up her jacket and grabs her boots and places them on her feet, "…with Andre'?" he asks.

She unwillingly shakes her head yes.

He knows that this particular subject was difficult for her to discuss and he really couldn't talk about it with her right now. So he lovingly embraces her; placing her head on his shoulders and she stnad still with Rick in silence for a few moments. Something that she could bring her self to do a month and a half ago.

Judith climbs down from the bed and starts to hug Rick's leg; they both look down at Judith and smile at her wanting to join in the hug as well.

He looks back at Michonne and kisses her on the lips, "We'll talk about once we get settled at the motel alright?"

She gives him a somber smile and says, "O.k."

* * *

Glenn backs the pick-up truck to the house just as Bob and Maggie come out the front door with the twin mattress from one of the bedrooms and places it in the flatbed. Tyreese and Daryl carry Rosita's body out and place her on the mattress; Bob places two ratcheting cables around Rosita to hold her in place on the mattress; then he gets out of the flatbed to help Daryl with attaching the tarp to the flatbed so that she's protected in case it begins to rain.

Just as Sasha is about to climb in to the flatbed with Rosita; Bob stops her, "No, I'll sit in the back with Rosita you sit upfront with Glenn and Maggie."

Sasha looks at him, "Bob you just gave blood a few hours ago, you need to…"

He cuts her off, "Sasha, I got this. Just sit up front and take a rest."

The impending storms winds start picking up and the storm drains start to forcefully push wateron to the block creating a small pool of water at the end of the block by the barricade.

By the time Rick and his group are ready to leave they have at least five or six cars of families that plan on leaving with them. Daryl and Tyreese are in the moving truck; Glenn, Maggie, Sasha, Bob and Rosita are in the pick-up truck and Rick, Michonne, Carl and Judith are in the SUV.

Right before the convoy leaves the block for the last time Daryl stops the truck and gets out in order to open the barricade.

He waves his hand to Tyreese to come out to help retrieve the weapons, food and other supplies from Jane's house. Once they come back out the two start placing the items in the back of the truck all the while they try to maintain their balance as the wind become stronger.

Before Daryl gets back in the truck he takes one last look over at the house where they buried Carol's body in the backyard. He feels for Carol's Budk Military Warrior knife in his pocket for a small amount of comfort then looks down at the asphalt watching the steady stream of flood water as it runs down to the growing pool of water at the bottom of the block.

He opens the door to the moving truck and begins to drive out of the cul de sac with what's left of the prison group following behind as they change lodges.


	43. Chapter 43: Thinning the convoy

"But why did we have to leave her?" Tori cries.

"Sweetheart…remember the story _"Trail of Tears"_ and how our people had to make that long trip to the west?" Shyanna asks.

"Yes", Catori replies.

"And remember how hard the trip was and how some of our people just couldn't make it? Mahala was sick she knew that eventually you and I would have to run. Remember how we had to run from the reservation because of all the dead spirits that were coming after us?" Shyanna asks.

"Mahala was already very sick with diabetes; and both of her legs…" Shyanna takes a small gulp at the thought of their Nana being left in the cul de sac to drown, "…were already gone; she just wouldn't have been able to keep up."

Catori looks out of her side view mirror as the cul de sac gets smaller and smaller; she begins to slow down her tears a little, "But now we have no family no blood left, Nana was the last of our family our people."

Shyanna takes one hand off the steering wheel to the midnight black FJ Cruiser and places it on her sister's hand, "We still have each other Catori and at this present moment I am most grateful."

Tori looks back at her older sister and places her hand on top of hers as a way of thanking her for bringing focus back to what's most important.

The winds begin to pick up as the cul de sac convoy flees from what Daryl considers to be serious storm if not a hurricane. They're only 5-6 miles out going up I-85 when they begin to approach a sign on the side of the road, "CAUTION HIGH WINDS ON BRIDGE WHEN FLASHING", there's no need for flashing lights; these survivors already knew they were about to encounter their first real brush with mother nature since civilization has ended.

The bridge, less than a mile long, was clearly in disrepair years before the outbreak. Twenty yards before the actual bridge, Tyreese double takes a broken detour sign resting on the side of the road that says, "BRIDGE CLOSED FOR REPAIR", with that Tyreese tells Daryl,

"Hey we need to get across this thing quick, I just saw a sign down there that says the bridge was closed for repairs."

"Shit, can't we ever get a break?" Daryl gripes, "Roll down your window and signal to people behind us about the sign."

Tyreese rolls down his window and begin to waves his hand down toward the sign hoping that the people in back will do the same.

* * *

Maggie's in the passenger seat of the pickup with Sasha who has her head on Maggie's shoulder trying to get some sleep. As Maggie watches the scenery out of her window she begins to doze off herself when suddenly she spots Tyreese's arm waving and point toward the side of the road. She sits up abruptly waking Sasha up in the process.

Glenn looks over at Maggie anxiously and asks, "What's wrong?" He then notices the moving truck speeding up as it starts to cross the bridge.

"Oh shit, there's a sign on the side of the road that says bridge closed for repairs." She tells him.

Maggie immediately rolls down her window and starts waving her hand just like Tyreese had done.

Sasha opens the middle window to the cabin, "Hold on tight Bob!"

* * *

Michonne's sitting in the passenger seat when she sees Maggie waving her hand and pointing to the side of the road; she sees the sign then watches as both Daryl and Glenn speed up.

"Why the hell are they speeding?". Rick turns and notices the frightened look on Michonne's face, "What?"

She goes to unlock her seatbelt but again forgets the soreness of her arms, "Carl quick, open your window on my side and wave your arm to point at the sign coming up", She looks at Rick, "There's a sign up ahead that says the bridge is closed for repairs."

As Carl rolls down his window; Rick watches him wave his hand then he looks out his side-view mirror to see if the driver in back notices the sign.

He waits a sixty seconds then says, "Carl, close the window." Then he increases his speed as he approaches the bridge.

A light but steady rain begins to fall while all of the vehicles are speeding up as they begin to cross, Shyanna and Catori are the last ones to start crossing; and they didn't not receive the warning about the bridge from the cars in front of them.

As the convoy quickly tries to cross the rundown bridge, a blast of 40 mph storm winds whips through the bridge causing the family in a Chevy Sonic; in the middle of the convoy, to losing control. The driver of the Sonic is unable to regain control and the light weight Sonic hydro-planes out of control crashing in to both vehicles behind it thus creating the beginnings of a major car pile-up.

The Sonic ends its hydro-plane by crashing in to the cement wall barrier producing a large hole in the wall of the bridge that is now working as a vacuum evoking storm winds below to suck down any light weight vehicles that happen to roll past it.

Shyanna, witnessing the car pileup and the whole in the wall barrier, speeds up in order to pass by the other four cars as they succumb to the chain reaction of the Chevy Sonic; "Hold on Tori!"

The FJ Cruiser speeds past the four cars by going to the right side of the bridge but, vehicle number four gets panics and does a sharp turn hitting Shyanna and her sister; the Cruiser grazes along the right side of the cement wall barrier of the bridge.

Daryl looks in his review mirror and sees the melee that's taking place behind Rick's SUV as he exits the bridge. He switches back and forth from the road and review mirror as the Chevy Sonic as well as the three cars behind it, fall off the bridge through the hole.

"Holy Shit!" Daryl responds, in despair and astoundment.

Maggie and Sasha turn their heads around and watch helplessly as the cars behind Rick; fall through the hole in the bridge. They gasp in horror as they see the vehicles fall out of site.

Rick, Michonne and Carl are aghast as they watch the cars behind them, fall in to the raging waters underneath the bridge. Michonne shakes her head, "This is unreal".

One of the cars hits the back of Shyannas' truck thrusting her back in to position with the convoy as they approach the exit to the bridge.

The count for the cul de sac caravan is now down to six instead of its original nine.


	44. Chapter 44: The Swordswoman

The caravan has only out run the storm by 30-45 minutes; by the time they reach the truck stop the drizzle and moderate winds have descended on the area. Daryl begins to wave the people outside of the prison group toward the front of the motel; while the prison group parks in the back. Rick and his people didn't prepare for the brunt of a hurricane coming in from east which is the exact side that they had prepared for their group weeks earlier.

Shyanna sees Daryl waving her to park in the front of the motel however; Shyanna also knows that parking around the back will protect her truck from the high winds that are steadily increasing with each passing minute. So she ignores Daryl's directives and parks in the lot around the back.

Daryl glances at the FJ Cruiser momentarily then runs over to Glenn, Maggie and Sasha getting out of the pickup truck to help Bob with bringing Rosita in to the motel. He arrives at the pick-up truck just as Rick's SUV skids in to the back parking lot.

The hurricane winds and rains have increased to a near volatile state; Rick jumps out of the SUV and yells to Carl,

"Get Judith and Michonne upstairs to our rooms."

He begins to run toward the pickup to help with getting Rosita inside when he sees the ominous storm clouds quickly approaching. A gust of wind blows through the back parking lot making it increasingly difficult for the survivors to walks or run.

Carl unsnaps Judith out of her car seat while Michonne sucks up the pain she feels in her arms to open the door. She bares with the pain and grabs her katana off floor of the backseat. She follows Carl as he approaches the stairs and yells, "No, Carl follow me!"

She runs to one of the motel rooms around back on the ground floor; Carl runs behind her covering Judith with a blanket in the process.

He comes up behind her as she attempts to kick in one of the motel room doors that she and Daryl cleared weeks before. But she still has very little strength and cannot get the door open.

When Michonne steps back for another attempt she glances down the row at a tall young woman in a waist length leather jacket. The jacket is littered with patches of duct tape; the young woman with deep black hair wrapped in a bun with two silver hair sticks holding it in place; crisscrosses' both arms over her head and behind her back to unsheathe two beautifully crafted steel Kamas each of them connected to the same 4 1/2' chain. At the bottom of the each handle were stunningly crafted steel dagger tips.

Behind the young woman Michonne studies a young girl, that's almost identical to the young woman, with two dark brown ponytails as she uses the same over and behind the head technique to remove two hardwood tambos equipped with a thick steel point from the back of her denim jacket.

* * *

Shyanna and Catori grab their satchels and weapons from the back seat and run toward the backside of the motel. As the two run up to one of the motel rooms; Shyanna pulls out her kamas and bangs on the door to see if there are any "dead spirits", inside. When she hears movement coming from inside the room; she turns to her little sister, "Tambos Catori!"

Just as Shyanna is about to kick the door in, she sees the swordswoman from the cul de sac; behind her the young boy that usually followed her foot to foot in the block, and he was holding a baby.

Carl to stands to the side as Michonne makes a second attempt at kicking the door in when he sees the young girl from the neighborhodd announcements last month; holding two pieces of wood with metal points at the ends. In front of the young girl was an older version of her except she had double- bladed nunchucks in her hands.

Shyanna watches as the swordswoman makes a second attempt at kicking the door in but she can't muster up the strength. The one thing that the swordswoman didn't know was exactly how much Shyanna admired her warrior spirit and power, which she often displayed whenever Shyanna would watch her from inside Mahala's house in the cul de sac. And to see her weak at this dire moment was a sight that Shyanna couldn't stand.

The strongest winds yet, funnels around from the front to the back of the motel blowing the blanket, protecting Judith's head, off and across the parking lot.

Shyanna yells to Catori above the howling wind, "Grab our bags!"

Catori grabs both satchels and follows behind her sister toward the swordswoman, her boy and baby.

Shyanna instruct Michonne and Carl to step to the side of the door; Catori places their satchels by Michonne's feet.

Three walkers make their presence known when they clamor at the front window inside the room.

Shyanna motions for Catori to move to the opposite side of the boy and the swordswoman, She takes a deep breath and kicks the door in allowing the dead spirits to stagger out.

* * *

Glenn, Maggie and Sasha tear the tarp from the back of the flatbed in order to help with Rosita. When they look inside Bob is quickly unlatching the ratchet cables anxiously.

"We need to get her in side she started bleeding again!" Bob yells over the whirling winds.

Rick Daryl and Tyreese reach the pick-up to assist. Bob picks Rosita's body up and passes to Tyreese.

"Sasha run and get what we need for surgery out of the truck!" Bob yells, "Ty, take here to a room on the first floor, we need to stay as low to the ground as possible."

Tyreese follows Daryl and Glenn over to one of the rooms that had been cleared on the bottom floor. Glenn kicks the door in; makes sure the room is clear then tells Tyreese and Daryl to come inside.

Rick, Sasha and Maggie get to the truck and open the hatch.

"Maggie help Sasha get what she needs, then bring Daryl and Glenn back to help me unload the truck.

* * *

Carl watches in amazement as the young woman takes one of her double-bladed nunchuck up the chin and straight through to the top of the head of one walkers then, spins and comes down on the head of the other walker with the opposite nunchuck.

As the third walker comes straight for the young girl, she quickly stomps its knee backwards; forcing the body and head down to her level; then stabs it with one of the metal tipped wooded stakes through the eye.

Carl is in awe because of the young girl's capable of dispatching walkers without flinching and without the need of a gun.

After eliminating the threat, the five of them hurry inside. Shyanna closes the door; and pushes the t.v. on the dresser to the floor. Catori immediately drops their bags and runs to the opposite side of the dresser to help her big sister move it against the door.

Shyanna exhales then turns to the swordswoman and her two children "Are you guys alright?"

Michonne and Carl, speechless from witnessing the actions of this dynamic duo, shake their heads yes.

* * *

Meanwhile the other survivors that made across the bridge, a family of four from India, rush to get they their belongings out of their vehicle and in to one of the rooms in the back of the motel.

Rick and his people have managed to remove all items from their vehicles but only a 1/3 of supplies from the truck before the storm prevents them from going outside anymore. Once they're securely inside; Rick runs upstairs to the rooms that he had set aside for his group. When he looks in the rooms he sees that they are all empty. So he begins to call out for Carl and Michonne on the 2nd floor. When he hears no response he runs downstairs to the lobby and starts to call for them.

* * *

"This is an auspicious meeting to say the least." Shyanna announces looking at Michonne and Carl.

Michonne looks at the young woman with a suspicious grin as a response to her dry sense of humor.

"I'm Shyanna and this is my little sister Catori" Shyanna says smiling proudly at her little sister.

"I'm Michonne, this is Carl and Judith." Michonne responds.

Carl hears his father calling for him and Michonne on the first floor; he places Judith on the bed with Michonne then runs out the door to the hallway.

Shyanna watches as Carl runs out the door and then grabs her satchel; Catori grabs her own satchel as well.

As the two sisters walk out of the room; Shyanna turns around and tells the Swordswoman, "Nice Katana."


	45. Chapter 45: A new home

It's been two days since the group left the cul de sac, Jane and Abraham behind; Rosita's surgery has gone well however she's been in and out of consciousness; only lucid for a few minutes out of the day due to the pain killers that she's being given around the clock.

The damage in Michonne arms isn't too extensive but she will need to keeping her arms crossed and in a sling for the next few days so the tendons heal properly.

On the whole Rick and his people are feeling quite satisfied at the fact that they didn't lose anyone in the quick get away from the storm. They're also hoping that the survivors that left with them from the block turn out to be good additions to their group.

**_Day three_**

Its early morning; Rick and Michonne are sitting at a small writing table in the corner of their adjoining rooms at the farthest end of the east wing. At first, Rick felt bad that Michonne had to keep her arms in slings for the next four or five days.

But when Rick came back to the motel on the second late afternoon; after he, Daryl and Glenn went around the area marking trees to indicate a perimeter, he felt relaxed and at ease knowing that Michonne was unable to move about. In fact, he'd been sleeping quite well because of his contentment.

The bright morning autumn sun peaks through the curtains as Rick feeds Michonne a warm bowl of chicken noodle soup. One half of the happy newlyweds sits in silence; pissed off at her detainment because of the arm sling. Rick on the other hand, tries to restrain his cheery disposition by looking empathetic to her predicament. The sun brings out the shimmer in her lovely brown yet scowling eyes as he spoons feeds her the highly salty soup.

Feeling bitter toward her situation she asks him in a low lamentable tone, "You like seeing me like this don't you?"

He looks at her scornfully as he drags the bottom of the spoon across the lid of the bowl; removing the excess soup so it doesn't drip, "Like what?"

"Like this", she repeats with extra irritability in her voice.

As he lifts the spoon to her mouth he says benignantly, "Noo, I don't like seeing you like this", he places an elusory look on his face, "Why would you ask me that?"

Irked by his answer and question; she says sorely through her gritted teeth, "Not like this", bringing her confined crossed arms up for Rick to see, "I mean like this", this time moving her crossed arms in a circular motion for meaning being stuck in the room.

Rick studies her and places the bowl on table; crosses his arms then makes the same circular motion to mock her, "No, I don't like seeing you like this."

He picks up the bowl again and goes back to feeding her; then he gives her a naughty look, "There're a number of ways I want to see you…naked and handcuffed to a bed post maybe…but not like this" he lewdly grins.

Michonne narrows her eyes and poorly attempts to hide her smirk, "You know what I mean Grimes."

He feeds her the last of the soup; wipes her mouth then stands up and kisses her on the forehead, "I won't lie to Chonne', I do feel a lot better knowing where you are all day every day. I must've aged ten years in the past 3 or 4 months over not knowing where you were or if you were safe."

Rick heads toward the door, "Now, do you want me to send Carl in to read to you?"

Michonne nearly loses her balance trying to get out the chair. When Rick rushes over to help her; she gives him an angry look, meaning she doesn't want help.

"No, that's alright, I think I'm gonna go back to sleep. I'm not getting a lot of rest…I can't get comfortable with my arms like this." She says fidgeting.

He's about to grab his jacket to leave when she blurts out, "Bob's supposed to come by later to do some more PT with me; according to him I should be back to normal in another day or two". She sits down on the bed, "Daryl was telling me about an abandon sanatorium 15 or 20 miles north of here; that maybe be good place for group if we should have to leave anytime soon. The grounds are probably walled so it'll keep the walkers out. I'll take the SUV when I'm better and check it." She tells him casually.

Rick tries to hide his displeasure now that he's heard her plans, "Yea well…I'll be back later."

* * *

Rick walks down to one of the larger motel rooms that have been made in to a centralized kitchen. As he walks in he sees Carl down on his knees in the bathroom washing dishes in the tub. When he walks over to hand Carl the bowl and spoon Carl gripes, "Dad why do I have to wash the dishes?"

"Carl, everybody's taking a turn with KP duties you know that. Nobody complains they just do it; even that little girl Catori does them. Now if you keep on complaining I'm a make you take her day of KP."

Carl concedes and says, "O.k."

* * *

Rick continues down to the other end of the hallway towards Daryl's room. When he get to the door he notices that his door is slightly open; so he lightly knocks twice but gets no a response. He walks in sees the backs of Daryl, Tyreese, Glenn and Bob looking out of the window.

Curious as to what they're gawking at he asks, "What ya'll looking at?"

The four of them anxiously turn around like the three stooges; Like a Curly Howard, Glenn nervously fumbles with the binoculars; then in stuttering unison the four men say, "Nothin".

Rick walks over to Glenn and grabs the binoculars away to look out the window; he looks out and sees the mysterious woman that helped Michonne and Carl a few days ago with her little sister. As he watches the older sister; he sees that the's doing some soing mixture of yoga and martial arts. The two sisters reminds him of the kung fu flick he saw as a kid called, _"Against the Drunken Cat's Paw"_.

He turns back around and shamefully looks at his soldiers, "What are you…a bunch of peeping toms?"

Glenn snatches the binoculars from Rick and says, "No..." The four men go back to watching the mysterious woman, "…peeping toms stare in **_to_** peoples room; she's out there in the open for everybody to see."

Rick rolls his eyes and shakes his head again, "Listen, I need to talk to ya'll, I was thinkin' that from now on all of our women should always have one of us around when away from camp. We don't know the area that well and it's better to be safe than sorry."

All four men look at Rick in agreement; then Bob adds, "I don't think anyone would have a problem with that…well except for one...maybe."

The room gets silent at the last part of Bob's statement; then the four of them look at Rick pathetically.

After a few seconds of silence Daryl leans in a little and shallowly says to Rick, "You do know she used to be a trial lawyer right?"

Rick immediately gets defensive and says, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Daryl holds up his hands in clemency and tells him, "I'm just sayin' anybody that was able to convince my brother to do the exact opposite of what he normally did, has some pretty good rhetoric is all."

Rick changes the subject and asks Bob, "How's Rosita?"

"She's alright, still in and out of consciousness from the pain killers but she appears to be doing pretty good so far." Bob answers.

Before Rick leaves he tells Daryl, "And stop showing her maps of the area", Daryl shrugs his shoulder in a laughable submissive manner. "Have you been out to check the snares yet?" Daryl shakes his head no, "Alright, I'll be back in a while and go with you; I wanna talk to the new people before I leave."


	46. Chapter 46:Getting to know you Part 1

"Hello, I am Jakarious Tantula."

Rick extends his hand, "I'm Rick Grimes…"

Mr. Tantula invites Rick in to his motel room; as he walks in he asks, "…pardon me but how is your first name pronounced again?"

Mr. Tantula grins non-judgmentally and says, "Please call me Jakar."

Once Jakar closes the door; the rest of his family come from the adjoining rooms and stand in a line. Jakar begins to name them starting with his wife, "This is Imithal my wife, and my son Fadi and my daughter Inika."

Rick responds to Jakar's wife and to his twin children, "How do you do?" as he walks down the line shaking everyone's hand.

Jakar's wife and children live the room as the two men sit down at the writing table.

"Let me just say that I am glad to see that your family made here alright however, our people have encountered some serious issues with strangers so I just need to ask you a few thangs before we go any further. Rick says in a polite tone.

"That is fine." Jakar replies.

"How many people have you or anyone in your family killed?"

Jakar, insulted by the question answers, "None!"

"How many walkers have you or anyone in your family killed?"

Again, feeling insulted by the second question Jakar answers, "None!"

Rick begins to leer at the Jakar; strangely surprised that no one in his family has every killed **_any_** walkers, and then eagerly asks, "Why?"

Jakar has had enough of Rick questioning; so he stands up and walks toward the motel door, "Mr. Grimes we are a family of pacifists, we do not engage in violence towards the living."

Rick stands up abruptly and says, "Are you serious?! There're flesh eating monsters out there; and you're gonna tell me that you and your family consider them the living?"

"Yes, that is exactly what I'm telling you; man has been eaten the flesh of one another for tens of thousands of years. These 'walkers' as you describe them are living beings just like you and I." Jakar explains.

Rick walks toward the door disgusted by Jakar's ideology; but before he leaves he looks at Jakar, "You've seen what these things do to normal people right?"

"I have seen a great many horrors, here in the U.S. and in India; before **_and_** after the outbreak…more than I care to recount. Manhas been notorious for committing heinous acts toward one another; the only difference now is that they do it with no fear, no guilt and no agenda. Our family has made it this far without…"

Rick rudely interjects, "Getting your hands dirty?"

"If you came here to ask us to help you and your people kill…well than we have nothing else to discuss." Jakar finishes.

Rick leaves Jakar's room and walks slowly down the hall in bewilderment at what has just occurred.

* * *

Upon hearing the motel door shut, Imithal leans away from the nearly closed adjoining room door; she's been listening to Jakar's conversation with Mr. Grimes the entire time.

She looks at the door as though it was Jakar himself; shakes her head in detest , "Jakar is a feeble asshole". Then she swiftly turns around to her children, "Quickly go out this room door to the hallway and catch up with Mr. Grimes, I will tell your father that the two of you went to get something out of the car."

* * *

Fadi and his twin sister Inika, promptly run up to Rick, "Mr. Grimes…"

Rick turns around sees the brother and sister; glances down at the door they just came from then waves them over to the lobby steps away from their father's motel room.

"…Mr. Grimes, my sister and I do not feel the same way as my father." Fadi whispers.

Rick is very leery about talking to Jakar's children; he knows how disrespectful it would be to encourage them to disobey their father's wishes. He knows he wouldn't want anyone to do something like that to Carl and Judith.

'How old are you?" He asksthe two.

Inika impudently answers, "We are old enough to know that our father is a naïve and stubborn man; still holding on to a world that no longer exists."

Rick takes a deep breath then hastily whispers, "How many people have the two of you killed?"

Fadi earnestly responds, "I have only killed one of those things; it tried to eat my sister when her and I were gather firewood in the back of our house."

"And neither one of you have never killed a normal human being before?" Rick inquires.

The brother and sister respond in unison, "No."

Rick turns away momentarily to decide what he's going to tell the two; he faces them again and says, "I'm not encouraging the two of you to go against your father's wishes; but these days people are always stronger in numbers. Out of respect for your father…the two of you need to be the ones to tell him what your plans are; once you've done that, come see me."


	47. Chapter 47: Getting to know you Part 2

Rick reaches Shyanna's motel room door; he's nervous for some reason but knocks on the door anyway. When Shyanna answers; she's still wearing the loose fitting clothing that he saw her in earlier that morning as her and her sister did their morning exercises.

Dabbing her neck and forehead with a towel; she says, "Hi… ahhh, Rick Grimes right?"

"Yup, that's me." He grins.

"Please come in." Shyanna tells him.

Rick almost noticeably gawks at Shyanna's present state; the sweat along with her luxuriant tawny complexion illuminates her skin. Two elegantly crafted steel hair sticks hold Shyanna's bun inplace atop of her hair enhancing her graceful jaw line.

Catori runs in to the room, "Hi."

"Hey Catori", Rick looks up at Shyanna for pronunciation confirmation, "How ya' doin'?"

"I'm cool." She sweetly smiles and shrugs her shoulders.

Shyanna looks down at Catori and bumps her in the arm; then Catori corrects herself, "I mean I am doing well."

Rick chuckles then winks his eye at Shyanna, "Well that's cool."

"I just came by to talk with your sister a minute." He tells the young girl.

Shyanna smiles at Catori and says, "Tori, go finish hanging up our clothes." As she shuts the door to the hallway; Shyanna sits down at the table in the corner of the room, "So what's up?"

Rick, walks further in to the room and says, "I just wanted to come by and properly introduce myself and to ask you a few questions….", He runs his fingers through his hair attempting to hide his shyness, "…so I can get to know you and your sister better."

"Alright", Shyanna replies

Rick looks around the room and eyes various types of native american and martial arts weaponry as well as hunting and tracking equipment. As he walks over to the small table; he pulls out a chair to sit down, out of respect; he looks at her for approval to sit.

She indubitably says, "Please, sit."

"If you don't mind me asking, what did you do before everything happened?" Rick asks.

Shyanna, baffled at his first question, is a somewhat surprised. She expected he was going to ask her something of a more serious nature. "I was a dog whisperer or a dog trainer rather; on our reservation back in South Carolina. Before the outbreak I was using the money to take care of me and my sister."

"And where did you learn martial arts?" he queries further.

Shyanna exhales heavily, "South Carolina state laws were non existent when it came to the abuse of woman on a native american reservation. If there were any acts of violence toward females, the grievance went before a tribal council…that was comprised of old misogynistic tribal chiefs. Being a female on my reservation; if you didn't learn how to fight, your chances of becoming a domestic violence victim increased ten-fold."

Clearly hearing a little more than what he was ready for, Rick forges on to the main reason for his visit.

"Listen, I don't mean to take up too much of your time so I'll get right to the questions. How many walkers have you killed?

She furrows her brow and purses her lips a bit at the ridiculousness of his question, "Plenty."

He goes on to ask, "How many people have you killed?"

She answer without hesitation, "three".

Rick finally asks, "Why."

"The first one was when I was fourteen; I, my mother and my stepfather were living in a trailer on the reservation. My stepfather was a vile man…he had been beating on my mother for many years. One day when I came home from the schoolhouse; I walked in to our trailer and noticed that it was unspeakable quiet. I called out to my mother but still heard no answer. As I walked in to the bedroom my stepfather was on top of mother on the floor; in the process of choking her to death. So I got his .38 from underneath the couch and shot him in the head."

"And the other three?" he asks.

"They were a part of the first and only survivor group my sister and I came across after running away from the chaos on the reservation after the outbreak hit. Two men and a woman; the woman graciously welcomed my sister and me in to the group…" Shyanna sighs, "…but alas, she only brought us in for her own sake. The two men must have repeatedly been raping her of a regular basis.

The five of us had been staying in an abandoned house in an empty neighborhood. One morning I saw some deer tracks and decided to track it; my sister had been very weak from lack of food. So I trusted that they would look after her while I went tracking. A few hours later; as I was coming back; I heard my sister yelling for me. When I ran in to the house…" again she sighs but this time one infuriating tear trickles from her creamy jade eyes and down her cheek, "…the woman was right there assisting both of the men as they were trying to rip the clothes off...of my little sister."

Shyanna tightens her grip on the towel in her hand as she tries to restrain the fury that boils in her veins everytime she has to recall that moment.

Shyanna takes in the sites outside her motel window for a moment; as she brings her consciouness back to the present moment; she briefly reviews Rick's face for a response.

With a less than somber smile, she says bleakly, "I suppose some people...some woman will do anything to keep from being tortured on a regular basis; even if means sacrificing of a little girl. So I killed that woman and one of the men. Catori was only eleven at the time; but she didn't flinch when it came to executing the second man."

Rick sits back in the chair and closes his eyes in horror at the thought of what Shyanna and Catori had to go through to make in the world this far; even more so, he dreaded the savage world that Judith would have to grow up in.

After a few moments of stillness he tells Shyanna, "Listen, my people and I have been together for a while; we've been lucky and …not so lucky with adding members to our group. But you and Catori are more than welcome to join if you want. Being that you and your sister saved the lives my wife and children I think it's the least we can do."

"Well that's very kind of you Mr. Grimes…" he cuts her off,

"Please call me Rick."

"…Rick…but for right now I think I would rather get to know **_you and your group_** a little better. Out of desperation I misjudged the first group of survivors we came across; jeopardizing my little sister's well-being in the process. So if it's all the same to you, I prefer to wait awhile…to see...how things go. We have no problem with making sure to pull our weight and I believe you already know my sister and I have noo problem when it comes to killing the 'dead spirits.'"

Rick admires the fact that she wants to wait to see how things go before committing; as he walks out the door he shakes Shyanna's hand and says, "Fair enough."


	48. Chapter 48: The Debate

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Glenn shouts while jerking is head away from Maggie's hands.

"Damn it Glenn, now there's a bald spot back there!" Maggie scolds him.

Glenn waves his hand at Maggie, "I'm not posing for GQ Maggie. What the hell does that shit even mean, 'They're a family of practicing pacifists?' So they won't fight to stay alive?"

"They weren't joking?" Tyreese asks.

"Nope, the father was as serious as a heart attack; he says that walkers are living beings just like us." Rick confirms.

Sasha taps Tyreese on the shoulder to let him know that she's finished trimming his head and beard; as he gets up Daryl sits down on the floor in front of Sasha and says, "It means they're a family of fuckin yella-bellies."

She wraps a towel around Daryl's neck and starts cutting his excess mane with a pair of surgical scissors, "What I don't understand is how they have managed to live this long being pacifists?'

"Listen Rick, after that mess that went down with Lizzie and Meeka, I don't know if we should keep people in our circle that can't distinguish between us and walkers. Tyreese implores.

Rick walks over to the motel window; opens the curtains wider so Maggie and Sasha can see well as they trim and cut Glenn and Daryl's hair.

"Well apparently his kids don't feel that way, twins boy and a girl. They came running up behind me when I left the room. They said their father is a 'naïve and stubborn man; still holding on to a world that no longer exists'. The boy says that he killed a walker that attacked his sister but outside of that they're both pretty green.

Maggie finishes with Glenn and tells Rick to sit down in the chair, "Well it sounds like the kids have some heart."

"We'll see, I told them I don't believe they should disrespect their father but, if they both tell him how they feel and that its their decision to join up with us; to come see me. So we'll just wait in the meantime."

"And this guy has seen what walker can do to people?" Glenn asks.

"He said he has but that's not his argument. His reasons are based on history; and his not wrong entirely.

"Man has eaten the flesh of man since time began when starving. Human beings have done some God awful thing to one another; to him the only difference this time is that people eat people with no fear, guilt nor agenda. Walkers don't die unless they're struck through the brain…and let's face it the size of human brain is pretty tiny."

Sasha and Maggie stop cutting hair as everyone in the room listens to what Rick has to say.

Rick continues, "But that's the difference…reason. Man has the ability to reason when he wants to…even if he decides to ignore that ability he has a reason for ignoring it. Walkers have none of that they just eat. There's reason in life and death but, there's no reason for the two coexists simultaneously.

* * *

**_Somewhere between the night and dawn of the next day,_**

Rick's in the bed opposite from Michonne; being that her arms are in a sling she prefers to sleep alone for the time being instead of sharing a bed with Rick or Judith.

He's finding it difficult to sleep with knowing that he has to inform her of the group's decision.

As she fights to find a comfortable position, Rick gets up, "Chonne', I have to tell you something."

Michonne, still moving restlessly in the bed replies, "What's up?"

Rick gets up off the bed then, turns up a couple of lanterns around the room.

As Michonne adjusts her eyes to the light she silently ogles as Rick in his draw string pajama pants with no shirt; exposing his finely toned abs and upper body. She figures someone must have trimmed his hair and shaved his beard.

Michonne wanted her man in a wicked way…really bad.

"The group and I feel that…from now on no female should leave the camp without a one of us." He blurts out.

She instantly comes to her senses, "What do you mean without one of us?"

Rick looks down at the floor like a child being scolded, "Without a man."

She abruptly sits up and says, "What?!"

Everybody feels that any female that's a part of our group should have…male backup when going beyond the perimeter."

Michonne struggle to get out of the bed and says, "This is really immature of…"

He cuts her off, "Everyone knew you would react like this but, this is what the group has decided."

Michonne walks to the edge of the bed with her arms still in the sling, "Rick, look I get it. You like knowing that I'm safe but this…this is just uncalled for."

Rick walks over to her, "is it Chonne'? After what happened with you, Maggie and Bob last week…", Rick pauses, "…I don't want you taking unnecessary risks anymore. You've sort of made a habit of it."

She begins to respond but Rick sternly say, "Do you want to die Michonne?

She gets angry and glares at his question.

"Do you wanna die Michonne, cause if you're out there by yourself and get surrounded by walkers your gonna die. If you get surround by a bunch of men like the ones Daryl was with… if they don't kill you after they rape you then…"

He takes in a deep breath in order to calm down, "It's time for you to start caring about those that care about you. Have you even seen Rosita? She nearly bled to death to get back to the block to tell us where you were."

She looks down at the floor as she realized she hadn't been by to see Rosita since they got to the motel.

Rick gets up and begins to get dressed while she sits on the edge of the bed speechless.

He walks over to her and kneels down to look in her eyes, "You and I have made it this far. If you trust me…you will let me protect my family."

Michonne sits in shock as Rick leaves the room. She's not bothered by the directives of the group; she's bothered by the fact that everybody already knew her so well. The mysterious façade about her was lost.

Despite her best efforts, she grew to care about everyone in the prison group; she would never want to cause them more pain than what they've already endured by unnecessarily risking her life.


	49. Chapter 49: Heros

_**Later that morning,**_

Michonne's sitting at the table by the window looking out the window when Carl comes in to the bedroom, "Me and Judith are going downstairs for a walk."

She looks at Carl and Judith, "O.k.", then she gets up from the table, "I think I will go and visit Rosita."

As Carl leads Michonne to Rosita's motel room door they run in to Maggie as she's coming out of Rosita's room , "Heey you, how are you feelin'?"

Michonne smiles then she holds her up the sling as she gets closer to Maggie.

Maggie observes the dispirited face on Michonne as she gets closer to the room door.

"Its times like these that I miss having Beth around." Maggie tells her.

"Why?" Michonne asks wondering what made her think of Beth at this particular moment.

"Because if Beth were here she would say something like, 'It didn't have to go down that way, it could've been far worse.'" Maggie tells Michonne with a broken-hearted smile. The two stand in silence to remember Beth.

Most of the group never cared for Beth's view of this new world; however after everything they've been through they understood her viewpoint. There's no getting away from the bad stuff in this world; so you should give ample attention and respect towards the good in it.

Maggie looks over her should and sees Sasha coming down the hall; "I'll catch you later Michonne."

Maggie and Sasha greet each other in the hallway as the pass by.

Michonne walks in to Rosita's room and stand near the door. She sees Rosita on the middle of the motel room in a mattress single laying there with no movement.

Sasha walks up to Michonne, "You alright?"

"Yea I just wanted to come by and see how she was doing." She tells Sasha.

"She's good; you wanna keep watch for a while? Tyreese could use some help sorting through the rest of the supplies from the truck."

Michonne remains silent as she displays her arms to Sasha.

Sasha walks over to Michonne and smiles, "You could probably use some PT anyway", she begins to remove the straps from her sling.

* * *

Shyanna and Catori walk in to the motel lobby, "Catori, why don't start your morning stretches in the lobby while I go and take care of these dishes."

While Shyanna is walking down the hall to the centralized motel kitchen; she runs in to Sasha and Tyreese. The three of them stop to officially great each other for the first time.

Sasha extends her hand toward Shyanna, "Hi I'm Sasha and this is my brother Tyreese."

Shyanna shakes bother their hands, "I'm Shyanna."

"Michonne told us how you help her, Carl and Judith get inside, so I wanted to make sure to tell you thanks for doing that." Sasha tells her.

"Well, it feel good to save the living sometimes instead always killing the dead", Shyanna chuckles.

Sasha and Tyreese chuckle along with her, "You know, you don't have to stay on the first floor all the time, I mean we don't bite." Tyreese says jokingly.

Shyanna smiles at the joke and the jester of getting to know Ricks people, "l'll try to remember that". She smiles and begins to walk down the hallway

After finishing the dishes Shyanna heads toward the lobby but stops short when she hears Catori and Carl discussing a most serious matter amongst adolescents.

* * *

Catori starts her morning stretches when Carl and Judith walk in, "Hey Catori."

"Hi Carl", Catori walks over and kneels down in front of Judith, "And good morning to you pretty girl."

Out of nowhere Judith let's go of Carl's hand and give her a hug; which happily surprises her, "Oh… aren't you sweet."

Catori goes back to stretching while Carl and Judith watch; as they watch her; Judith walks closer and tries to mimic her stretches. Carl and Catori start to laugh at Judith's cuteness.

Carl does a double take of Catori's t-shirt and notices the Spiderman logo on the back.

"Oh no Catori…" Carl shakes his head in shame, "Please don't tell me you're a Peter Parker fan?"

"You can call Tori and yes I am." She corrects him, "and let me guess you're a fan of the rich pretty boy pretending to be a super hero."

"Wait a minute you can't condemn him just because he has money." Carl tells her.

She continues stretching and says, "Oh yes I can because Bruce Wayne has no superpowers which make him an ordinary rich boy who access to a lot of cool gadgets just because he has money."

Carl sucks he's teeth and responds, "That's exactly why he's a superhero; he has no powers and yet he can still keep up with those that have superpowers."

Tori pokes her lips out and says, "They tolerate Bruce Wayne because he has money, nobody in the JLA even likes him. Spiderman on the other hand, is cute in geeky way, has superpowers, works for a living and can still saves the world on a daily basis. When your boy's not getting the way of a real superhero, he goes back to being Bruce Wayne eccentric billionaire" she mocks.

Shyanna laughs to herself as she listens to Carl and Catori debate over who's the better superhero. As she's listening she thinks back to a time when children could be children. Shyanna recalls having discussions like these at school house on the reservation when she was Catori's age. She's also reminded that Catori is still a kid and needs people close to her age in order to assimilate in this new civilization.

The super hero debate begins to get heated so Shyanna comes down the steps, "Hey, hey…both of you are wrong. The coolest super hero is Cal-El."

Catori and Carl roll their eye and begin to laugh in unison at the fact that Shyanna brings Superman to the fore front.

"Aw you've got to be kidding me Carl says.

Catori looks at Carl, "I know right! Superman is the like the biggest boy scout on the block. Do you even know how many times he let Lex get away or how many times he could've gotten rid of Darkseid for good?

"Yea, he's always getting beat up by somebody just because he doesn't want to hurt them too bad. He's soft." Carl tell her.

Shyanna shakes her head walks over to Judith; picks her up, "Do you here this Judith, do you hear how they're bad mouthing the Man of Steel?"

Shyanna lends her nose to the top of Judith's head and takes in the scent innocence then she puts her back down.

"Alright, alright, we can have this discussion later; come on Tori let's get started." And with that she and Catori remove the magazine stand from in front of the lobby doors to go outside.

As Catori leaves out the door she turns around and says, "See you later Carl", then she mouths "Batman sucks!"

Carl playfully holds his fist up at her and smirks.


	50. Chapter 50: New Pack members

Rick and Daryl are walking around the woods setting up snares when Daryl asks, "So how did she take it?"

"As expected I suppose", Rick answers, "She probably thinks I'm being over protective now that I asked her to take my last name."

Daryl stops walking, "Really?! When the hell did this happen?"

"Oh yea...the night before all that shit went down."

Daryl continues walking, "Damn! I miss all the good shit when I go out huntin'."

He continues walking, "Well, it's about time the two of you stop playing cat and mouse."

"Yea, that's the same thing Carl, said when I told him but, she's pretty pissed off at me. I just don't know how else to get her to stop taking all these risks." Rick confesses

Suddenly, Rick and Daryl hear the shrieking cries of an something up ahead. The two of them begin walking quietly toward the cries when they come across a fence with a sign, "Roscoe's Junk Yard ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK."

Daryl gets nervous as the shrieking continues, "We gotta stop that noise before it brings in more walkers."

The two of them hop the fence; and slowly move closer to the noise. As the two walk further in; they see what used to be a male and female walker leaning inside the trunk of a beat up Corolla. Daryl kills both walkers with his crossbow then slowly approaches the car.

When Daryl peeks inside in the trunk he drops his shoulders, "Aww, that's a god damn shame, man!"

Once Rick looks inside he becomes sadden by the horrible site as well; then looks further in to the back of the trunk and begins smiling, "Who's on night watch tonight?"

"Umm, I think its Glenn and Bob tonight." Daryl answers.

Rick shakes his head while brandishing a mischievous smile, "I think this would be a goodnight for Glenn and Bob to start teaching Carl how to keep watch."

Daryl pulls a joint out of his shirt pocket and lights it. As he hold in the smoke he smiles and shakes his head at Rick, "I suppose this would also be a good night for Ty to keep Judith too right…", he blows the smoke out and smirks, "Good thing your room is located at the farthest end of the motel."

* * *

Rick knocks on Shyanna's door, "Hi, Rick something wrong". She asks

"Hey, how ya' doin, No but I could use you expert opinion on something." He says.

Shyanna hesitates for a second thinking that Rick could be leading her in to a trap; so she takes a deep breath and quickly yells, "Tori, wasi'chu."

Catori immediately runs in to the room with her jacket on with her spiked tambos in place; then Shyanna grabs her jacket and kamas.

As the three of them walk down the hallway Rick looks at Shyanna then back at Catori. When they finally reach the room down the hall he asks "I take it you still don't trust us just yet?"

Both of them stand behind Rick, then Shyanna responds, "I just don't trust my judgment of you and people yet."

He nods his head and turns the door knob, "Well, I hope we can change that for you soon."

When Rick opens the door Shyanna and Catori see Carl on the floor playing with 6 puppies.

Catori's eyes grow wide with excitment as she runs in to the room and sits down next to Carl to play with the puppies.

Shyanna's stern and defensive face melts in to sheer fondness when she looks at the cuteness of Carl and Catori as they play with the puppies.

Daryl walks in from the adjoining room and sees Shyanna with her leather jacket and her kamas in their holster; completely in awe of Shyanna's exquisite like presences and pale green eyes. He walks over to her and introduces himself.

"What's up? I'm Daryl", he raises his arm to shake Shyanna's hand.

She smiles and says, "I'm Shyanna and that's my sister Catori, where did you find these beautiful puppies?"

Rick walks over to one of the pups, "We found them in the trunk of car in a abandon junk yard".

He picks up the puppy and walks over to Shyanna, "What do ya' think, are they healthy? I was hoping that maybe you and Catori could hang around for a while; at least long enough to train them for our group." He hands the pup over to Shyanna.

She's in awe and completely weakened by the cuteness of the puppy then begins to examine it.

"Well it has some huge paws so that tells me their parents were pretty big; most junkyard dogs are though. All of them have wet noses...they look pretty damn healthy to me."

Rick and Daryl smile at Shyanna's opinion.

She purses her lips while admiring the puppy's face up close, "I tell you what, you give me one of these puppies…my choice mind you…", she watches Tori as she plays with Carl and the other puppies, "…I'll train them and join your group."

Rick looks at Shyanna somewhat troubled by what he needs to tell her, "There's just one thing, after you told me about your run ins with those people; as a group we decided that all of the women should always have a guy around for back up whenever they go beyond the perimeter."

Shyanna stares at Rick with some doubt then looks over at Daryl.

Daryl walks closer to Shyanna as she rubs the pup's little head against her cheeks, "Look, Rick told me about that first group you ran into…we ain't like that. All of us just been through too much together; when someone joins our group they become kin. Besides Rick told me you're a tracker; you and I both know a group is always stronger with two."

She winks one her seafoam green eye at Daryl and pokes out her lips a little cause she knows he's trying to butter her up. He tries to conceal his smile and shyness by looking looks down at the floor.

Rick on the other hand, is visibly enjoying his brother's "meet-cute" with Shyanna.

Shyanna goes back to watching Tori being happier than she's seen her in months; then she glances back at Rick and Daryl, "The universe must be working in your favor today Rick Grimes", and with that she nods her head in agreement.

Catori watches as her sister agrees to them joining the group and says, "Yes!"

Carl smiles at Catori and bumps the elbow of his new friend.

* * *

Shyanna places all the puppies in a rolling laundry room basket with the exception of one; then her, Catori, and Daryl leave the room.

As Catori pushes the crate down the hall she listens as Daryl asks her sister, "Hey, do have anything that's sorta soft and long like a belt?"

* * *

Rick watches Carl with the one puppy, "So I spoke with Ty earlier and he's gonna keep Judith for the night and I'm gonna have you start learning how to keep watch tonight with Glenn and Bob. After hearing some of the things Shyanna and Catori went through to make this far…"

Rick sits down on the bed,"…I realized that me telling you're a man is one thing but I have to start letting you be that man. I need to start trusting your instincts; start paying attention to what you have to say. You tried to tell me months ago about how Michonne needed to be under the same roof with us. And because I didn't listen I nearly lost her."

Carl looks at his father, "You don't need to explain yourself Dad, I know what you're trying to say."

He looks at Carl and chuckles, "It seems like eveytime I hold your hand you keep trying to let go of mine."

Rick stands up and looks down at Carl on floor as he holds and strokes the puppies back, "Don't get me wrong this ain't gonna be easy for me, but I know that the only way your gonna learn to trust your own instincts is by using them."

Carl gets up with the puppy and hands it to his father, "Well, I better go find out what time Glenn and Bob want me ready then."

"Before you do that I need your help with somethin'", Rick tells him.

Daryl walks back in to the room; in his hand he has a long shiny silk turquoise belt in his hand; he asks Rick, "Did you tell him yet?"


	51. Chapter 51: Ricks' girly samurai

**A/N: This chapter is pretty VERY X-rated. Mature readers only please!**

The sun has gone down and all the survivors in the motel begin diming the lanterns in their rooms to avoid attracting any roaming walkers in the area. Sasha's finishing up Michonne's PT,

"Alright, how do they feel?"

Michonne winces some when she bends her arms, "It's still sore but I'll live with it, to get some sleep tonight."

"O.k., I'll come by and check on you in the morning." Sasha tells her.

* * *

"You got it? Daryl asks.

"Yea, I got it." Carl answers.

"Aight, go on up and wait til you hear the signal.", Daryl tells him.

Meanwhile Rick walks in to his suite and sees Michonne sitting on the bed watching Judith play with a couple toys on the floor while massaging her forearm.

"Hey".

She answers him back with a dull, "Hey."

Rick closes the door behind him, "Listen, I realize that you're still upset over the group's decision but…"

She interrupts him, "Rick…its o.k. I understand. I'm actually glad there's some type formality within our group that can supersede my stubbornness." She laughs.

He looks at Michonne pleasantly surprised at her willingness to comply.

"Well, that's a relief; I don't want us to start this union on a bad note. I already feel bad enough as it is."

"Why is that?" she asks staring at him curiously.

Rick walks over and sits down next to her on the bed.

"I was feeling bad cause…I don't have some kind of ring or symbol to give you now that your mine."

She tilts her head and scrutinizes him with pity, "You Grimes men…I would've never guessed you were so sentimental Rick. I thought you would've figured out by now that I'm far from materialistic. I don't need a ring or something tangible as proof for how you feel about me."

"I'm just not…girly like that anymore." She says while shrugging he shoulder sadly.

Rick turns away from her and focuses on Judith; trying to hide his smile and laughter cause he knows her better than she knows herself.

He puts his best emotional face back on and turns back around, "And I feel like there should be a contingency plan...you know in case you're ever in a situation out there by yourself."

Michonne frowns her lips; sorry that she's making Rick Grimes feel this mushy about her. Then he whistles towards the door.

When the door opens; Carl walks in and places a black and reddish-tan puppy on the floor with a silk turquoise belt wrapped around its neck in a big bow.

As the puppy rushes in to the room, Rick walks over; picks the puppy up and places it in Michonne's lap.

Rick snickers while witnessing **_his_** badass samurai turn in to a puddle of girly mush.

"Aww", she exclaims beaming over the puppy as he places it in her lap. "Where did you find him?"

"Daryl and I found six of them in the trunk of a car; I realize you maybe more of a cat person considering the fact that you had the hideous cat statue back at the prison… but I want you to always be safe if you ever find yourself alone out there."

She places the puppy on the floor and looks at her man with such esteem that she forgets that Carl and Judith are still in the room; tugs Ricks shirt towards her and begins to supply him with a deep lip lock.

As their kiss moves past PG and in to R-rated, Carl grimaces his face as he starts to feel disgusted and uncomfortable with the intimacy between his father and stepmother. He shakes his head, closes his eyes while cringing, "Good god people they're children in the room."

Carl picks up the puppy, "Come on Judy…", Judith uses his leg and pulls herself up; he grabs Judith's hand and walks towards the door. He looks down at Judith "…you should never be this close to roller coasters. They can be pretty noisy sometimes."

Rick continues kissing Michonne while throwing a pillow at Carl's heels because of his cheeky comment.

Michonne pulls out of the kiss a second as she registers the meaning of what Carl just said, "What did he just…", but Rick pulls her lips back in to his as Carl closes the door behind him.

* * *

Michonne anxiously starts unbuttoning Ricks'shirt forgetting that her arms are still tender. In between kisses he softly asks, "How do your arms feels, maybe this is too soon."

After unbuttoning the last button on his shirt she whispers, "There's no group decision that can supersede what I want from you right now."

She removes her shirt, revealing those tasty chocolate chip cookies that Rick loves to nibble on. He quickly kicks off his boots; removes his shirt and undershirt then unbuckles his gun belt lays it on the table then he unbuckles his pants.

Michonne lays down on the bed as he climbs over top of her playfully licking her tone belly and pulling off everything she has on below the waist.

He places his hand on her sweet button below; she willfully grows weak as her juices spills on to his hand. She grips the bed spread tightly as her man gradually places one then two digits inside her flooding tunnel.

Unable to wait any longer; he removes his pants and boxers then slides his stake in to her moist garden. Michonne arches her back as lustful waves awaken her carnal desire. He leans in for more filthy lip action then he gives her one slow juicy pump before seductively asking her, "So what are you gonna name him?"

He delivers another long and teasing supply of his virile nature. Every name suggestion he makes comes with a leisurely tantalizing injection, "Buddy…Buster…Duke…Lucky?"

She moans helplessly as she falls victim to his slow teasing thrusts.

Rick closes his eyes and groans deeply as he pauses to hold off his explosion. Still needing more time, he slips out of her and kneels down to terrorize the "little man inside the boat" with his tongue.

Michonne arches her back each time his tongue makes pass at her clit. She shudders from the tenderness in her arms as she grips the bedspread; then more shockwaves hit her entre body as he propels his digits in and out of her slippery passageway.

Rick enjoys watching his Chonne' submit so, he seats himself back inside creating a unified, "...Mmm", that escape from both their lips. He tries to avoid thinking about his end game; so slow pumps her again, "How about Rex…or Buck…Sh-Sh, Shep" he stutters.

Every slippery pump brings her closer to the breaking point. She reaches for his smooth shaven face; pulls it down to hers then she glides her tongue across his bottom lip and lewdly says, "Grimey".

Aware of the names origin, Rick smiles at the naughtiness of her choice and plunges inside of her as deep as he can. He pulls her hips down and lays her mahogany gams on his chest and over his shoulders as he starts plowing away.

The "Ahh's" that escape from her lips match each bang of the headboard against the wall. "Ohh, shit! Rick... Rick, it's gonna be loud again I-I can feel it coming." She heavily moans.

He leans down and places his hand over her mouth as her vice clenches around him tighter and tighter then her beaver dam breaks open; she places both her hands on top of the one hand he's using to cover her mouth as she yells from the orgasm he's giving her.

As her soupiness engulfs all of Rick; he grips the headboard for balance as he continues to pound her harder. Then he explodes deep inside his girly samauri.

* * *

Later that night,

Rick has his arm wrapped around Michonne's belly; holding her closely as the two of them sleep off the triple grimey session from earler that night. She wakes up still feeling soggy like Ricks' goodness is still leaking out of her.

So she gets out of the bed; grabs a lantern and goes in to the bathroom and softly shuts the door. She grabs washcloth and a jug of clean water; and proceeds to the cleaning of her nether region...again.

Once she finishes, she leans over the sink to rinse the washcloth out.

As she rings it out, a mixture of water and blood pouring down the drain. An irritated, "Shit", softly parts from her lips.

Over the past few days Michonne's been eating 3 or 4 times a day while her arms were in the sling.

She throws the bloodied washcloth in the sink then douses it with vinegar and more water.

Leaning on the edge of the bathroom sink she closes her eyes and rubs her forehead as she accepts the fact that her period has returned.


	52. Chapter 52: Returning Pack members

**_A few days later,_**

Michonne wakes up one morning a little before day break. Feeling more normal than she's felt in days; she decides to take Grimey outside for his morning walk. She grabs her trusty katana; picks Grimey up out of his small crate in the corner of the room; then checks on Carl and Judith sleeping in the adjoining room. Before leaving the room she glances back over at Rick sleeping in the bed then closes the door behind her.

Once in the parking lot of the motel; she contemplates how she's going to avoid getting pregnant now that her menstrual cycle has come back.

The sun slowly begins to climb out of the horizon; she places Grimey on the ground to do his business then she closes her eyes and breathes in the birth of a new day.

While enjoying the slow sunrise; flashes of what it would be like to be pregnant with Rick's baby invades her thoughts. She quickly opens her eyes and covers her smile at the pure excitement she feels by that growing possibility.

Suddenly, she removes her hand from her mouth as she spots two weary survivors walking up the road about to pass by the front of the motel. One of them in a baseball cap pulled down low hiding their face; the other with no hat but carrying a lot of stuff on their back.

As the survivors starts walking past the motel, Michonne furrows her brows in disbelief; she walks closer and says aloud, "James."

James looks over at the parking lot and recognizes Michonne from a distance; with a puppy dancing and playing with a gun strap that's been made in to a leash.

As James and his companion get closer to Michonne; he waves his hand behind signaling his partner to wait back a bit so he can speak with her in private.

Michonne smiles appreciatively at James and before she can control her impulse she let's go of the leash; hugs him and says, "Thank you."

Surprised at her unexpected display of gratitude; he hugs her back and says, "You're welcome."

They both release from the embrace, "Where are you headin'?" She asks

"Nowhere in particular, the cul de sac's pretty much under water my buddy and I have been wondering ever since that storm hit." He tells her.

"I know a lot has happened but, I told everyone about what you did for me. I'm pretty sure I could get you back in to the group; provided that you prove yourself to be trustworthy again. And I know everybody would want an explanation of your actions."

James looks down at the ground, "I don't think that's a good idea…with Jane and Abe I know…"

She places a hand on his shoulder and tells him, "We left that problem back at the cul de sac, the both of them turned the same night you saved me."

He instantly smiles upon hearing that Jane and Abe are no longer in existence, he looks at her "Do you think they would?"

"You're willingness to risk your life just to save mine has got to be worth a second chance", she says.

Grimey runs over to James' companion in the baseball cap; the companion picks Grimey up and cuddles the puppy as they get closer to James and Michonne.

"Oh, there's just one thing I can't leave my buddy out here without me so as long as the two of us can stay I'm willing to do whatever it takes so that the two of us aren't a burden."

His companion walks over while rubbing Grimey's soft little belly; then they place the puppy in Michonne's arms; "He's so cute what's his name?"

Michonne gently takes Grimey away from buddy, never giving a second thought to the fact that James' companion has absolutely no base in their voice.

She smiles down at Grimey and rubs his soft fur; "This here is Grim..ey", Michonne's heart starts pounding out of her chest as she looks in the face of James' buddy and says, "Beth?"

**A/N: I just wanted to thank everyone for reading my story and for leaving fabulous and encouraging reviews. This has been great practice and a wonderful way for me to pass the time during TWD hiatus. **

**Perhaps I will attempt an AU or a crossover while Season 5 airs. If you have any suggestions I would absolutely love to read them so please feel free to PM me or leave it in the review. **

**One more thing, if any of you have ever considered writing but are afraid to this is a great way practice; the more you write the better you become. Just read some of my earlier chapters or any of my other stories and you will see exactly what I mean, Lol.**

**Cheers,**

**Lanie_Love**


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